Wayward Son
by jakegag99
Summary: Every villain is the hero of their own story. Forced to confront the fact that his life is a lie, Jaune abandons his family and casts his weapons aside. He sought redemption at Beacon, but the past has a habit of catching up to you. Now on the path to Haven with team RNJR, Jaune must find the strength to confront the demons of his past, or watch the world burn.
1. Demons of the past

Chapter 1: A Demon of the Past

RWBY is owned by Rooter Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

Jaune Arc was having a good day, aside from the nerves about the tournament he would be participating in. There he was, head on the noodle stand counter while his friends talked, when he heard Ruby call out a name that froze his blood.

"Hey Emerald."

Jaune's head snapped up and he locked eyes with her. Her red eyes widened momentarily before she responded to Ruby, trying to ignore him. He glanced around until he spotted Mercury pretending to sniff a boot.

Jaune turned his attention back to Emerald as she asked him, "How have you been Jaune, I haven't seen you in a while." A pleasant smile that didn't quite reach her eyes plastered on her face.

Jaune smiled back after a moment of hesitation and said, "I've been good, how is Cinder holding up?"

Mercury laughed, "Oh you know how she is Jaunyboy."

Jaune's grin became twisted when he asked, "Oh hey Merc, how are the legs?"

Mercury's grin faded instantly as he replied, "They're going to feel better after I pound your face in the tournament!"

Emerald asked, interrupting the two, "Have you heard from Amber lately?"

Jaune's grin faded into a scowl and his friends' eyes widened in shock when he dove for Emerald. Yang stretched out to restrain him at the same time Pyrrha reached out for his armor with her semblance.

"I'm sorry, he's not usually like this. It must be the nerves." Pyrrha said.

"Don't sweat it champ." Mercury replied as he and Emerald shared a look and took their leave with a wave.

Jaune relaxed a bit as they left and sank onto one of the stools.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha questioned, "Who's Amber, and how do you know them?"

Jaune took a deep breath and said, "They were a part of a past I would like to forget, and Amber was the one who helped me leave it behind." He hesitated as he looked to Ruby. "If they are here then that means Cinder is with them."

Ruby glanced at him. "Yeah I already met her before the dance."

Jaune's eyes widened in shock. "Ruby, the woman who attacked you, what did she use again?" He said urgently.

Yang put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down. "Whoa there Vomit Boy, chill out a second. Why the sudden interest?"

Jaune just kept staring at Ruby as she thought.

"She used fire dust and a sort of glass to-"

"Craft arrows and swords." He finished.

Ruby gaped at him. "Jaune I didn't tell you that part last time."

Jaune sighed. "Just don't trust them okay? Promise me you won't trust them." He was begging them all now. Ren and Pyrrha shared a worried glance.

"Okay Jaune, promise." Ruby replied easily. He relaxed after hearing that.

"We need to get going." Pyrrha reminded him.

Jaune let out a sigh and stood up. Nodding his head to his partner. They said their goodbyes and made their way to the colosseum. He shook his head as they walked, putting the goofy smile back on. _Time to play the part of the lovable goofball._

* * *

Emerald waved at team RWBY and their friends as she walked away with her partner. When they were out of sight she rounded on him.

"You said Jaune wasn't with them." She hissed at him.

Mercury raised his arms defensively. "Hey at least I didn't antagonize him and basically confirm that Cinder is now the Maiden."

Emerald's eyes widened. "Oh shit. This is bad Merc. We weren't even supposed to let him see us, and now he knows that Cinder has part of the maiden's power."

"Hey calm down, as far as he knows she could have the full deal. Jaune _was_ as strong as Cinder, but now she's stronger."

Emerald relaxed a bit. "You're right but you still need to report it to Cinder."

"Why do I need to tell her he knows about us being here?"

"Because your inability to notice him landed us in this mess!" She snapped.

"In my defense I thought he was that monkey guy Sune or something."

Emerald glared at her partner. "Merc, that guy has a tail. A very blond prehensile tail."

Mercury shrugged. "Whatever, you're still her favorite so you should tell her."

Emerald launched back into an argument with her partner without a second thought.

* * *

For Jaune the next few days passed without incident. Team JNPR's first match went well, a bit embarrassing but well. Jaune had kept tabs on Cinder and co as best as he could. _I can't go straight to Ozpin. I've got no evidence they had committed a crime and bringing up the maidens will only incur his suspicion._ Jaune ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

 _Damn it, if Qrow was around he could vouch for me. Monty only knows where that dusty old bird is_ , Jaune mused as he trailed Mercury through the courtyard. He glanced at a ring of people surrounding a fight and saw Mercury run in panic back toward the dorms.

 _Interesting_ , Jaune mused. He went to check it out just as the crowd started clearing and saw Ruby hanging off the arm of the drunken bird himself. _How about that, speak of the Grimm and they shall appear._

Qrow looked up and his grin turned somber when he saw Jaune. "Hey kid...its been awhile."

Jaune smiled and waved.

Ruby looked at her uncle in surprise. "You know Jaune?" She asked.

Jaune laughed. "Yeah, he saved my life a while back." Qrow put Ruby down and slung an arm around Jaune's shoulder.

The indulgent uncle turned to Ruby with a grin and said, "Hey squirt, mind if I talk to Blondie alone for a second?"

Ruby looked back and forth between their smiles. She shrugged. "Okay, I gotta go talk to Weiss about her sister. I'll catch you later." With a grin and a wave, she was gone in a flash of rose petals.

Qrow sighed and turned to Jaune. "How you-"

"Is Amber okay?" Jaune cut him off.

Qrow unscrewed his flask and took a big swig. "She's not dead." Jaune sighed in relief. _Cinder doesn't have the power yet. There's still a chance to stop her if I play my cards right._

"But, she might as well be."

Jaune's eyes snapped up to Qrow's. "What?" Jaune hissed.

"Come on kid, we need to talk to Oz." Qrow replied.

Jaune reluctantly followed him as he walked up to Winter and the General.

* * *

Cinder was flicking through the Beacon network on her scroll in boredom, checking off the so lovingly crafted steps of the plan. _Rig the matches, pull everything on potential targets, copy all available data off of the Atlas ships, prep the emergency broadcast for the speech._ In truth there wasn't much left to do other than wait.

Cinder's finger hovered over the student files. She clicked on one team in particular. _Team JNPR, wasn't that his mother's name?_ She was almost certain that was intentional on Ozpin's part. Her interest wasn't in the team name but rather its leader.

His picture sat on her scroll mocking her. His bright cobalt eyes and carefree smile were insulting the seven years they fought under the same banner. She scrolled through his file for what felt like the hundredth time. She couldn't help but ask herself. _Why?_

That question plagued her in more ways than one. _Why abandon us like that? Why are you using that relic, and why are you faking a low skill level?_ Cinder watched video after video of his performance in combat class. Everything in those videos pointed to him having almost no talent for combat. Cinder was no fool, she knew Jaune. He was playing some kind of long game with his team, and team RWBY. _Why else would he get so close to them? Does he think he can twist them into pieces strong enough to face Salem? Is he aware of Ozpin's plans for his partner?_

Cinder's thoughts were interrupted by Mercury barging into their dorm. She looked up as he burst in, slammed the door behind him, and bent over panting. Neo looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"What is so important you felt the need to run all the way here Mercury?"

The assassin straightened up and spoke quickly. "We have another problem, Qrow Branwen is here." He panted out.

The door opened again and an annoyed Emerald stepped in and began to report, "We have another problem."

Mercury cut her off. "I already told her Em."

Emerald shot her partner a glare. "If you had stuck around another minute you would have seen Jaune meet up with Qrow. Then grab Ironwood and his dog to go meet with Ozpin."

"Children." Cinder called, before the two could launch into an argument.

The two froze and turned towards her, standing tall and keeping their mouths shut.

"The plan has not changed. We simply need to run interference. Jaune has no proof but his word."

They seemed to relax at the thought.

"However, should he expose us, the two of you are to fall back to your fail safe positions and wait for your time to strike. If need be I will deal with Jaune myself."

Her subordinates nodded.

Cinder looked back down at Jaune's grinning visage. _I shall have to pay him a visit regardless. Don't make me have to deal with you permanently Jaune._

* * *

Jaune sat on a chair in front of the Headmaster's desk, while Winter and Ms. Goodwitch yelled about Qrow's drinking habits. Jaune thought back to the look of fear on Mercury's face when he saw Qrow. _I can't remember the last time I saw Cinder that afraid. I would love to have a picture of the three of them, faces lit up in terror as all their hard work crumbled around them._ Jaune thought as he grinned. Jaune was snapped out of his musings by Winter shouting, "What is a student even doing here!" Jaune felt all eyes on him, and instinctively turned to Qrow.

Qrow nodded. "You can trust them kid. They were Amber's friends."

Ironwood's eyes bore into Jaune as he asked, "How much do you know about Amber?"

Jaune locked eyes with him.

"Jaune saw her in action." Qrow said.

The General kept a straight face. "Schnee, leave us."

Winter looked outraged that Jaune was being allowed to stay and not her. "But sir-"

"Now," the General commanded.  
Winter snapped to attention and walked into the elevator. Ozpin leaned forward as the elevator doors closed on the scowling face of Winter and asked, "Tell me Mr. Arc, what's your favorite fairy tale?"

Jaune blinked at him. _Of all the questions…_ he looked over at Qrow who was failing to look innocent. "You cheated." Jaune told him.

This confused the other members of the room who turned to Qrow.

Qrow shrugged. "I bet him 20 lien that would be Ozpin's first question."

Jaune glared at him and threw the lien card. "Cheater." Jaune took a deep breath and turned to Ozpin. "I only know one."  
Ozpin quirked an eyebrow as he sipped his coffee. "Oh?"

Jaune nodded. "The tale of four seasons, and the man with two souls who gave them their powers."

Ozpin placed his cup down as Ms. Goodwitch and Ironwood tensed up. With a look of supreme calm on his face, the headmaster asked, "And what makes you think the two are connected? Or real for that matter?"

Jaune smiled. "Because one of them saved my life, and spoke of the wizard as if he still lived."

"I see." Ozpin said, taking another sip of his coffee. "And do you have any idea where he might be?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, but I'm sure he's still around." _After all, Salem still fears his interference_ , he mused.

The others in the room visibly relaxed. Ozpin took a quiet sip of his coffee before continuing. "So, Mr. Arc how did you meet Amber? And why did Qrow bring you to see me?"

So Jaune told them the same half-truth he'd told Qrow and Amber. That a young Cinder found him after his village was destroyed and asked him to join them, and he lived with her, helping her for years. Then Jaune found out about the dark work they were doing for Salem. So he fled and Amber found him days later and helped put him on the path to Beacon.

"Headmaster they are planning something big relating to the festival." He finished. _Please just agree to arrest them._

Of course, any hopes of them doing anything were crushed by Ozpin's sigh. "Mr. Arc, I know you want us to take action, but aside from preventing Miss Fall from getting the remainder of the maiden's power, there isn't much else we can do."

"Why the hell not!" Jaune roared.

"Mr. Arc, contain yourself!" Ms. Goodwitch scolded.

Jaune took a deep breath as Ironwood explained. "I understand your frustrations, but without evidence we would be locking up foreign students without probable cause on the word of a Beacon student at a festival of peace. It would be a huge international indecent."

Jaune knew he was right, until they did something illegal nothing could be done. Jaune got up and left despite protests from Ms. Goodwitch.

"Mr. Arc you were not dismissed!"

"Let him go Glynda."

 _I guess I'm on my own again_ , Jaune thought bitterly as the elevator doors closed behind him.

* * *

Jaune had been keeping his eye on Cinder's group as best he could. More specifically Emerald, and Mint. _Cinder won't risk doing anything overt, and Merc doesn't understand subtle._ That left the green haired illusionist and the mystery girl. _I'm just gonna assume Neo until proven otherwise._ That's who Jaune was following at the moment.

Mint didn't seem to notice his presence, he wasn't sure if that meant he wasn't as rusty as he thought or that she was leading him on. He followed her through the games set up on the Beacon grounds as she weaved her way in and out, ignoring everything around her. She only stopped to glance longingly at an ice cream stand. _One more point for the Neo column._

Suddenly she took a sharp turn out of the festival and took off running. Jaune cursed and chased after her into the school. She practically flew down the halls weaving in and out of students. Finally she made a wrong turn and Jaune had her cornered in a dead end hall in an unused corner of the school.

Mint wasted no time kicking open the only door and disappearing into the room. Jaune gave chase and found himself in Professor Port's Grimm storage. He drew Crocea Mors quietly and crept through the rows of cages, keeping his senses alert for an ambush. Suddenly Neo was in front of him. Before he could react, she grabbed his shirt and flipped him over her shoulder into a cage.

The dust shield spun up almost immediately, trapping Jaune in the cage. He glared at Neo, who just smiled and waved before vanishing out of existence.

"Damn it. Of course it was a trap."

Jaune sheathed his sword and looked around the cage for a way out. It was a rather large cage most likely made for an Ursa.

"I can't brute force my way out, the shields would be designed to take the blunt force on of an Ursa."

"So Beacon really has dulled your skills."

Jaune turned around to see Cinder standing there in a Haven uniform, a soft smile on her face.

"its nice to see you again Jaune."

Jaune snorted. "The feeling isn't mutual."

Cinder just kept smiling at him. "Oh Jaune I know you don't mean such things. Don't worry, after Beacon falls I'll bring you home and we can fix whatever Ozpin has done to you."

"I'm going to stop you Cinder."

She laughed, an almost angelic sound tainted by a hint a of malice. "Oh Jaune, you of all people should know you can't stop us now."

Crocea Mors sang as he drew the blade from its scabbard and struck the barrier. Jaune lashed out, striking the barrier three more times with no effect. Cinder watched his efforts with an amused smile.

"Tell me this first, are you trying to build pawns out of team RWBY, and your own JNPR?"

Jaune didn't answer her.

Cinder grinned at him, taking his silence as a yes. "So you were trying to recruit the silver eyed girl, and Ozpin's champion."

Jaune tensed at the mention of Ruby and Pyrrha.

Cinder chuckled at him. "When the dust settles, remember the part you played in all of this and rejoice. Thanks to you, we are going to change the world."

Jaune dropped his sword and placed his hands on the barrier.

"Cinder listen to me, you have to call off the attack. You can't give Salem what she wants."

"I'm sorry Jaune. Just two more days and this will all be over, you can't stop it now. Goodbye Jaune, I'll come collect you when its all over."

She turned and began walking away.

"Cinder!"

Jaune brought his sword back up and struck the barrier again.

"Cinder!"

She was gone, and he was trapped there while she had free roam of the school. Jaune cursed his own stupidity for falling for such an obvious trap. _I'm stuck here till someone decides to check on the Grimm or Cinder 'collects' me._ Jaune shuddered, thinking about what Salem would have Watts do to 'fix' him.

Jaune waited for what felt like hours, sitting in his cage hoping someone would come by. His scroll had been jammed, leaving him with no way to contact the outside world. His scroll suddenly rang out. Jaune grabbed the device hoping it was call. Sadly it was just an alarm reminding him of Yang's match against Mercury. _Great I was looking forward to seeing that smug grin wiped off of his face._

It was only a few minutes later that Jaune realized they must have pulled something during the match. The Grimm around him were whipped up into a frenzy all at once trying to break out of their cages. _What did they do?_ The sound of warping metal was heard and Jaune could see a dent in the side of one of the un-shielded containers. _Oh shit. I can't let these Grimm get out of here, there are civilians on the grounds._

Jaune leapt to his feet and drew his sword once more. He could see the generator control panel on the front of the cage. He placed his sword against the metal wall, looking for gaps in the interior shielding. Sure enough he found a small one right above the control panel. _If this is a newer model the control panel broadcasts data back to the generator to increase shield strength every time a motion is made to attack the shield. Hopefully its an older model and I can just short out the dust crystal._ Jaune placed his sword against the metal, allowing a small portion of his aura to flow into his blade, causing it to glow. _Three, two, one._ His sword came down, aura enhanced blade cutting through the metal like butter, exposing the controls.

 _Oh thank Oum for small mercies._ Sure enough the control was old fashioned with a regulator added on for the newer model generator. Jaune sheathed his sword and pulled out his hunting knife. He found the shock dust crystal that powered the control easily enough. _Now comes the hard part._ Jaune carefully began to shave a large chunk off of the crystal, trying to keep his hands steady as it electrified his knife. He caught the chunk as it fell off and looked at the back of the panel for the override switch connections.

Jaune could hear the shriek of tearing metal reminding him that he didn't have a lot of time until civilians would be in danger. He looked at the panel, trying to remember where the lever was. _Screw it._ He picked the two largest connections on the bottom left and pressed the long crystal shaving to them. He applied a bit of aura and was promptly electrocuted. An arc flash went off, melting the bottom half of the control panel, causing an even larger arc flash before the panel sputtered and died, dropping the shield.

"Yes!" Jaune celebrated, throwing his arms above his head.

The sound of tearing metal and a triumphant roar ended his celebration.

"Ah shit."

Jaune dashed out of his makeshift cell, heading to the loading doors in the back of the facility. All around him Grimm were slowly tearing their way out of their prisons. Jaune reached the back wall and looked around for a control panel. He spotted it and hit the emergency lockdown button, an alarm blared and an automatic warning was broadcast by a computerized voice.

"Warning, emergency lockdown in effect, please make your way to the employee entrance and manually secure the door after exit. The remaining exits will now automatically lock, and be shielded."

Jaune was already on the move before the machine had finished. He climbed a cage and made a mad dash over the slowly growing hoard of frenzied Grimm below.

When he finally reached the door, he noticed the lock down lever had been reduced to sludge. An experimental push on the door revealed it was fused shut from the outside.

"Fuck." He cursed. Turning around he noticed an emergency weapon rack on the wall. Jaune ran over and took stock. _Two Vale standard issue D9 hand cannons with silencers, four magazines of armor piercing, burn, and frost dust rounds. One silenced marksman's rifle two magazines of armor piercing, two magazines of burn dust rounds. Silencers must be to not disturb other Grimm if they have to put one down._ Jaune mused before returning to his inventory taking. _Three stun rods, eight disruption grenades, and one disruptor pistol, with twelve spare power cells._

He noticed three sets of night vision goggles. After deliberation and a glance at the long shadows of the dark facility he slipped a pair onto his head. Jaune wasted no time after that strapping one of the hand cannons to his lower back, and slinging the marksman's rifle over his shoulder. He grabbed the disruptor and strapped it to his right thigh, securing the grenade belt on his right hip. He could hear the sound of Grimm moving in the dark and was very aware that only the strongest would have been able to break out of containment even with the frenzy they were stirred into. _At least things have calmed down, but I still can't let these things live._

Jaune climbed up onto one of the empty cages, calmed his nerves, pulled the marksman's rifle off his back, and slipped the night vision goggles on his face. _Time to go hunting._ He mused, as he loaded the rifle and brought it up to his shoulder, creeping carefully along the tops of the cages.

* * *

Penny was wandering the halls of Beacon after the latest match of the tournament, analyzing the data over and over again. It didn't add up to the android. Yang Xiao-long was an angry person yes, but she had no history that would indicate such an attack without provocation. The General had dismissed her assessment of the situation.

So here Penny was looking at all available information and trying to determine where she went wrong. If the General said she was wrong then she must have made an error. She carefully watched the blond brawler's reaction to her own actions, every action when compared to Penny's baseline concluded that Yang wasn't lying about being attacked. _But that's not possible._ Penny poured over her own footage as well as that captured by the cameras and could find no evidence of a hostile action from Mercury Black.

So lost in her thought was Penny that she ran right into a person. Almost like she had appeared out of thin air in front of her. The smaller girl was a surprised as Penny.

"My apologies I wasn't paying attention. My name is Penny what's yours?"

The strange girl tilted her head at Penny with an odd look before signing something to her.

 ** _Mint_** Penny's database translated.

"its nice to meet you Mint."

The strange girl waved before vanishing into thin air. Penny blinked, _So she did appear out of nowhere._

Penny realized she was in a dead end hallway and turned to leave. A muffled cry caught her attention. Penny turned her attention to the one steel door in the hallway, noticing that the door and frame had been fused together and a strange device had been placed on the door. It looked like a keypad but she couldn't read and a locking mechanism. In fact, her sensors couldn't detect anything about the device. _Strange,_ Penny approached the odd keypad, interested in it. She attempted to interface with it through the CCT network but found that there was no receiver on the device. Penny ripped the device off the door and crushed it in her hand. Penny looked at the door and decided to investigate what was on the other side. One of her swords sprung from her back and shifted, forming laser aimed at the melted door. Penny noted that she had to increase intensity of the beams to cut the metal. _Whatever fused this was extremely hot._

* * *

Cinder was lying in her dorm room monitoring the various news outlets that were covering the incident that had happened earlier that day. _With Jaune...occupied, things went off without a hitch for the first time in months._ Not for the first time Cinder wondered if it was Jaune that had set team RWBY against Torchwick in an attempt to slow her down. She dismissed the thought. _No, Emerald said he was surprised to see her. If he knew the plan had been accelerated he would have stepped in personally._

She was broken out of her thoughts by Neo's arrival.

"How fares out little Knight?"

" _ **He broke out of his cell and is playing a game of cat and mouse with the Grimm. Only the big ones got out so I decided to give him a few more playmates.**_ " She signed, a carefree grin on her face.

Cinder smiled at the sadistic midget. _And she claims to like him._ "Thank you Neo. Your services may be needed again before the big show tomorrow."

The mute nodded, giving her a mock salute before vanishing to terrorize someone for fun. _Probably Jaune._ Cinder shrugged to herself. _Let her have her fun. He'll survive, he always does._

Line break

Jaune was pissed, he was almost out of rifle ammo, he only had two disruptor grenades left, and his night vision goggles had been broken, leaving him at a disadvantage for the last few kills. Thankfully he was done. He checked every broken cage and made sure the correct number of Grimm had been killed. Jaune paused as he passed a cell he was certain wasn't open the first time he passed it. _No, that's impossible, its not like someone is letting them out as I kill them._ Jaune soon found out that was exactly what happened when he was jumped by a juvenile Beowolf. It was dispatched with ease after the surprise wore off. He concluded that Neo must be playing a game with him.

Jaune dragged Crocea Mors out of the throat of the Beowolf, wiping the blade clean on the monster's pelt. _Oum damn Neo._ Jaune picked up the marksman's rifle that the beast had knocked out of his hand when it surprised him. The gun itself was fine, but the scope was broken, crumpled inward with shattered glass falling onto the floor as he picked the rifle up. Jaune sighed, slid the scope off the top rail of the gun, and dropped it to the ground.

Jaune heard the tapping of a foot and looked up to see Neo standing on top of a stack of cages. She waved down at him, a childish smile on her face.

"Can you at least tell me how many are left?"

Neo seamed to ponder this, pulling an overdramatic thinking face as she tapped her chin. She nodded, held up seven fingers, and vanished.

Jaune rolled his eyes at her antics. _She's like a psychopathic version of Nora. Or is Nora a less psychopathic version Neo?_ Jaune honestly couldn't tell sometimes.

There was a growl behind him and Jaune spun around, dropping to one knee and bringing his rifle up. The Ursa roared at him and Jaune just aimed for its eyes calmly. He pulled the trigger, a explosive dust round heading straight for the beast's face, only to sail harmlessly past its head and explode on the cage behind it.

Jaune lowered his gun and just looked at it. Jaune sighed, "Of course the gun isn't sighted in, why would it be? its just an emergency weapon."

He imagined the Ursa would have raised an eyebrow at his sarcasm if it was capable of the action. Instead the bear-like Grimm charged at him. Jaune looked at the gun in his hands and shrugged. When the Grimm got close enough to take a swipe, Jaune sidestepped and placed the barrel against its head, firing a point blank shot. The Grimm crashed to the ground, its head gone. Half of the Grimm's mask clattered to the floor, a spider web of cracks stretching across the bone.

Jaune's weapon didn't fare much better. Evidently not of Huntsman make, the weapon's barrel was ruined by the shot. _Its not like I had enough spare ammo to sight the thing in anyway._ Jaune rested the gun on one of the cages and drew the disruptor. Passing it to his left hand and drawing Crocea Mors in his right, he took off in search of the remaining six Grimm Neo had let out.

Jaune found the first one around the corner. A Boarbatusk was roaming and spotted him. It tucked itself into a ball and came charging at him. Jaune tensed, waiting for the right moment. Just before the rolling Grimm struck he rolled to the left and brought the disruptor up, firing an electrically aided concussive blast into the beast's unarmored side. The pig-like Grimm spasmed and unrolled, bouncing several feet past him from its own momentum. Jaune quickly ran up to the stunned creature and drove his sword into its throat.

 _Five left. Hopefully they don't realize I'm here._ Suddenly a howl echoed from by the door, answered by several roars and howls that started moving back in that direction.

"Or they could team up and head for the door, ruining my chance to pick them off." Jaune sighed, "Oum damn it Neo. This is not gonna be fun."

* * *

Penny hummed as she slowly cut through the door. The sound of a body hitting metal, then she heard a battle cry followed by a roar. Penny tilted her head as she heard a muffled cry of:

"Oh come on!"

Suddenly a sword pierced the wall next to her. Penny blinked, wondering what was going on in the room.

* * *

Jaune found the Grimm as they approached the door. He counted three Beowolfs, one Ursa, and a Beringel. They were waiting for someone cutting into the door from outside. _Can't let these Grimm out._ Jaune jumped off of the cage he was crouched on, firing the disruptor at the Beowolf in the back. Jaune landed behind the stunned beast and sliced out its throat, drawing the attention of the other Grimm.

"Hello boys, make sure to give Salem my regards."

The Ursa roared and charged, taking a swipe at him. Jaune sidestepped the swipe and lopped off the limb. He brought his stun gun up only for the Grimm to bite his gun in half. He cut its head off in retaliation.

Jaune tossed the remains of the gun aside, grabbed one of his last disruption grenades, and tossed it at the waiting Beringel. He turned around before the grenade went off and climbed a stack of cages, holding his sword in both hands as he jumped off the top and came down above the stunned Grimm.

The Grimm leaned its head back, causing Jaune to impale the arm it had been shielding itself with. Jaune dangled in the air, holding onto his sword while the Grimm stared at him.

"Hey there big fella."

Jaune was promptly backhanded through the outer wall of an empty cage coming to a hard stop inside. After a few moments he dragged himself out of the hole. The Beringel had just succeeded in pulling his sword out of its arm.

"Oh come on! Any chance you're gonna give that back?" Jaune asked it hopefully.

The Grimm snorted and threw the blade behind it where it pierced the reinforced wall next to the door.

"Guess not."

Jaune reached behind and pulled out his hunting knife and his borrowed hand cannon. Holding the gun in his left and his hunting knife in an ice pick grip in his right hand. The Beringel beat its chest and roared. Jaune let out a battle cry of his own as he charged the beast.

* * *

Penny heard the sounds of fighting as she neared cutting the door open. Muffled yells and the crash of someone hitting metal, hard. As the door came free, Penny pulled it out of its frame and tossed it to the side. She turned back to see a Beowolf lunging at her. Penny brought her swords up to strike but the beast suddenly halted when an arm wrapped around its neck and buried a large knife in the creature's shoulder. The beast howled in pain before four muffled gunshots were heard, each accompanied by an armor piercing round exiting the creature's chest. The beast was dragged down to its knees by the knife in its shoulder. An armored blond man covered in Grimm blood stepping in front of the Grimm and raising his firearm to the creature's head, unloading a final round between the its eyes. The beast slumped, held up only by the knife in its corpse until the man planted his foot on its chest and pushed it off the blade.

"That was way more than seven."

Penny clapped at the performance, drawing the man's attention.

"That was quite the take down, I wish I could have seen the rest of the fight."

He sheathed his knife and put the gun and a few harnesses for missing weapons on the wall next to an identical gun, before pulling the sword out of the wall and turning to her.

"Thanks, but trust me, you wouldn't be this enthusiastic if you were in there with me. I'm Jaune Arc by the way." He introduced himself as he sheathed his sword.

"Penny Polendina. May I ask why you were in Grimm storage?"

Jaune chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Something caused a stir and some of the stronger Grimm broke containment. Someone sealed the door after I entered, probably as a prank. Though I know for a fact that a friend of mine teleported in and let a few weaker ones out intentionally."

He laughed but it sounded forced.

"Do you mean Mint? I ran into her in the hall just before I discovered the door to this room was fused. That doesn't seem like something a friend should do."

Jaune chuckled, "Yeah well she's a sadistic little midget, this is just her idea of a practical joke. Anyway it was nice meeting you Penny, but I have to go take a shower. I'm so annoyed right now so this blood won't dissolve."

"Oh, okay."

* * *

Jaune was currently walking in circles trying to shake the strange girl who was following him. She wasn't even trying to hide or blend in. _Cinder wouldn't use an amateur to trail me, she would have sent Emerald or Neo. So who the hell is this Penny working for?_ Jaune made a rather obvious show of checking his sword for damage as he walked, trying to get a good look at the girl. _She looks distracted. Maybe she's a transfer student who got lost?_ Jaune stopped walking and turned to the girl.

"Are you lost?"

Penny shook her head. "I'm not lost, I'm following you."

Jaune was even more on edge. He moved his hands behind his back, gripping the hilt of his knife in his right, ready to draw at a moment's notice. He was painfully aware of how empty the part of the school he had led her into was. _She could have friends out of sight, and I isolated myself. Great._

"Why are you following me exactly?"

"I was lost in thought and pondering the incident in the arena earlier. I was just wandering and happened to follow you."

Jaune's eyebrows furrowed. "What incident?"

Penny blinked at him. "Were you not aware that Yang Xiao-long attacked Mercury Black after their match concluded? I thought that was why you went into the Grimm storage?"

"Yang would never do that unless he attacked first."

Penny nodded. "My assessment of friend Yang comes to a similar conclusion. However despite her claims and a positive match on her telling the truth, I as well as the cameras in arena witnessed friend Yang fire a shot into Mercury Black's leg. Leading me to believe my original assessment is flawed as General Ironwood suggested."

Jaune shook his head and grit his teeth. _Of course Ironwood wouldn't look into it any further than 'oh this student has anger issues'. Damn it Emerald._ "Have you and the general considered foul play?"

Penny tilted her head at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well look at it this way, the Vytal Festival Tournament is a very prestigious event that would certainly benefit the school that wins. Not to mention bragging rights. Don't you think someone with the ability to alter people's perception would use that to their advantage to disqualify a stronger opponent like Yang?"

Jaune held his breath while Penny considered his words. Her eyes seemed to blank and widen almost too large.

"I believe with a ninety eight percent certainty that you are correct Jaune. Based on the angle of the shot taken, an honest reaction from friend Yang, and the inclusion of potential foul play, I have concluded that friend Yang was framed by someone with a perception alternating semblance. Thank you for your help, I can't wait to tell friend Ruby."

Jaune tilted his head at the strange girl as she turned around and ran off. _She's an odd one...oh she's the girl Ruby ran into looking for Blake. She's exactly as Ruby described._ Jaune shrugged and started walking back to the dorms.

* * *

Jaune started his next day off on a positive note. He spent some time with his partner after he noticed she was struggling with something. She slipped off at some point which left Jaune to look for her hoping to help her. He found her around a corner of the school leaning up against a wall looking lost. Thankfully Jaune had one of the ultimate weapons for cheering a woman up: candy, specifically cotton candy.

"Its no green goop but it should do the trick." Jaune stated, a small genuine smile on his face as he handed her the cotton candy. Pyrrha accepted the gift without a smile.

"Thank you Jaune."

Jaune's smile dropped and he sat down next to his partner to console her.

* * *

 _Well I think I have successfully slipped into my 'village idiot disguise'._ Jaune sighed as he dragged himself up off the floor. _I might as well go catch the match, and make sure Emerald doesn't try something again. Not much else I can do to stop them at this point._ Jaune was tense the entire ride up to Amity.

Jaune was acutely aware that he had no way to stop Cinder, only save his friends. As he was making his way to Pyrrha's fight he couldn't help but worry about them, when he saw Ruby head into a back room labeled maintenance he was curious and worried. _I hope she's just lost and not being led to a trap by Emerald._ Jaune followed her in until he saw Mercury grinning at her. "Ruby move!" He shouted, startling both of them. Jaune drew his hunting knife and threw it at Mercury right as he went to kick Ruby.

She sped over to him. "Jaune what's going on?"

"No time, stop Emerald, before she frames Pyrrha too!" He shouted as Mercury dropped an ax kick on his shield. He pushed up, throwing Mercury into a backflip. Jaune tried to follow it up with a slash at the falling assassin but Mercury used the recoil from his boots to dodge the swipe. The grin on Mercury's face widened when Jaune heard Ruby scream in anguish. He froze, eyes widening, his only thought _Pyrrha!_ Jaune grit his teeth but held his ground. _Fuck. I can't risk turning my back on Mercury. I should had have kept that damn gun._

"What's the matter hero? You gonna go save the girl?"

Jaune snorted. "She can take care of herself."

Mercury grinned at him and charged forward, firing off both boots and somersaulting in the air to try and land a two legged kick. Key word being try. Jaune ran forward and slashed up at Mercury's back, carving a chunk out of his aura and drawing first blood.

"What's the matter Merc? You all tuckered out from a party girl kicking your ass?"

"Nah I just wanted to see how soft you've gotten." Mercury stated with a cocky grin, placing his hands behind his head.

 _Emerald!_ Jaune dropped to his knee as two shots sailed over his head and slammed into Mercury. Jaune brought his shield up to block the follow up shots from Emerald. He turned his attention back to Mercury just as the assassin came in for an ax kick. Jaune caught the kick on his blade, lowered his shield, and leaning his head back right as Mercury fired into the face of an unsuspecting Emerald. He pushed up, throwing the surprised Mercury off balance. Jaune used the opening to shield bash the thief and step through her guard. He collapsed his shield to reduce drag, grabbed his sword in two hands, and slammed the pommel into Emerald's back, sending her sprawling into Mercury.

"Did you really think I couldn't tell the difference between your real shots and an illusion Em? I know your aim isn't that bad."

Emerald and Mercury were quick to get back on their feet facing Jaune down.

"You can't beat both of us Jaune and you can't stop the fall of Beacon. Just come home with us." Emerald offered hand outstretched.

Jaune shook his head. "No. Maybe I couldn't stop this, but you can be damn sure I'm not gonna let you touch my friends."

Emerald withdrew her hand. "We were your friends once."

"I thought you were my friends too."

The silence was punctuated by the dying cry of a Nevermore. Jaune acted first, reaching into his waist pouch he pulled out a cheap red dust crystal and poured aura into it, throwing it at his old friends and bolting back down the hall as the improvised grenade went off. _I gotta get to Pyrrha. Cinder's gonna head right for her._

The next few minutes were a blur. Fighting his way down to Beacon, Jaune struggled through large groups of Grimm and robots, desperate to reach the Vault before Cinder and protect Pyrrha. He held nothing back, hacking his way through anything that stood in his path. Jaune knew he was too late when he came across Pyrrha standing at the base of the tower, looking up as a column of fire shot up the elevator shaft.

 _Cinder killed Amber_ , Jaune mourned the loss of first real friend quietly as he ran up to Pyrrha and called out to her. "Wait, you can't fight her alone!"

Pyrrha looked at him with a sadness in her eyes. She smiled, and out of nowhere kissed him.

Jaune's whole world froze in that moment. When he leaned in deeper, he barely felt her lift him with her semblance until he jerked sideways into a locker. Then with just a word of goodbye, he was in the air.

 _NO! I'm not letting that monster take anything more from me!_ Jaune reached for his hunting knife only to curse, realizing he hadn't retrieved it after his scuffle with Mercury and Emerald at the colosseum. Jaune coated his feet in aura and kicked until the rockets under the locker gave out and he began free falling. He braced himself as the locker spiraled closer to the ground before crushing a lone Beowulf with a squelch.

As he pulled himself out of the remains of the locker and climbed the crater, Jaune dialed Weiss.

"Jaune, where are you?" She asked concern evident in her voice.

"Don't worry about me, Pyrrha is fighting someone too powerful for even Ozpin on top of Beacon tower, you have to save her!"

Jaune hung up, ignoring Weiss and Ruby's cries to be safe. Jaune instead drew his sword and began a mad dash back to the tower in the distance, praying Pyrrha could survive until he or Ruby got there. _Just hold on Phyr._

* * *

Cinder was enjoying a fight for the first time in a while. The Spartan was putting up a decent fight, it reminded her of her sparring matches with Jaune. The girl must have thought she was protecting him when she sent him away in that locker.

 _How naive_ , Cinder grinned as her arrow pierced the Spartan's heel. She walked ever so slowly towards her with a flirtatious grin as she asked, "Did you do this to protect your pitiful friends, to protect your partner? Or to try and claim a power that was never truly yours?"

Pyrrha looked at Cinder defiantly, but didn't utter a sound. Cinder just kept smiling as she summoned her bow and arrow.

"You never really knew him you know, not at his best."

When Pyrrha didn't rise to the bait Cinder raised her bow and formed an arrow as she drew the string back, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked.

Cinder's smile vanished as a picture of a younger Jaune formed in her mind. He was framed by stars as he'd asked her the same question, with that goofy grin on his face.

"Yes." Cinder replied with narrowed eyes as she let the arrow fly.

* * *

Jaune heard her last words through the painful silence before he could reach the doors to the top floor. "Do you believe in destiny?" Hearing the impact, and her last desperate gasps. It was like getting stabbed over and over again. Jaune drew his sword from his sheath and slashed wildly at the door. _Come on!_ As he succeeded in shredding the door, he watched Pyrrha dissolve into ash on the wind and her tiara fall to the ground. _No._ He dropped to his knees as he heard Ruby scream and saw the blinding light of the Silver Eyes power.

When it cleared, he saw Cinder laying on the edge of the roof by the now frozen Grimm dragon, crawling closer to the edge. Jaune stalked towards her, sword raised to finish her, but he noticed small pieces of obsidian lifting off the ground. His shield expanded in time to catch the hail of razor sharp black spikes. When he lowered his shield, Cinder had dragged herself onto the back of a Griffon clinging to the edge of the tower and took off.

Jaune looked away from her retreating form and turned his attention back to the now unconscious Ruby. _At least you've unlocked your silver eyes in all this mess, we may need those one day soon._ Jaune hated himself for thinking of the young Rose as a tool, as a weapon to be pointed at an enemy. He sat down and cradled her head in his lap, looking at the bronze circlet sitting across from him. _I'm so sorry Pyrrha._

* * *

When Qrow got there, he found Jaune staring at a bronze circlet while cradling a sleeping Ruby. Before he could even ask, Jaune spoke, "Cinder is the new Fall Maiden. She killed Pyrrha, and presumably Ozpin. Ruby unlocked her Silver Eyes, and they hurt Cinder and froze the dragon." He didn't take his eyes off the circlet or stop stroking Ruby's hair the entire time.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Qrow asked as he lifted Ruby up. Jaune walked over to his partner's equipment before answering. Qrow already knew the answer the moment Jaune turned his tear-filled gaze towards him, holding the remains of his partner's equipment with trembling hands.

"Yes," was his whispered reply.

 _He looks just like Tai after he lost Summer_ , Qrow thought to himself.

"Come on kid I'll buy you a drink on Patch."

* * *

A few days later Jaune found himself sitting at a table in the small inn and pub on the far side of Patch. Pyrrha's circlet sat in the center of the table. Jaune took another sip of his drink as his studied the jewelry.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha, I was a fool." He whispered to himself letting his head hang as he stared down into his drink.

"From where I'm standing kid, you still are fool."

Jaune looked up to see Qrow standing across from him with a drink of his own in hand. He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Jaune.

Qrow glanced down at the circlet and back up at Jaune. "You know I'm gonna use this as an example of how much worse I could be next time someone says I have bad drinking habits. You've been here for three days drowning your sorrows over your dead girlfriend's jewelry."

Jaune sighed, ignoring the jab. "Why are you here Qrow?"

Qrow leaned back with a beer in hand and cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? Am I not allowed to share a drink with a friend?" he asked innocently as he drank half his glass in one gulp. Jaune just stared at him, waiting for a real answer.

"Fine. I did some digging into your friends, and found out that their transcripts were bullshit."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Really? I never would have guessed. They seemed like such good students."

"Save the snark kid. Anyway, they were so bad they really shouldn't have been accepted."

"You thinking inside job?" Jaune asked sipping at his drink.

"I wasn't, but word got out among the Council and some other high ups that a third party may or may not been at Beacon."

Jaune took a big gulp of his drink. "That's not good Qrow if the Councils start blaming each other then they will play right into her hands."

Qrow held up a hand. "Relax kid, I got Goodwich on that front. The news ain't going to make it out of the kingdom short of some bullshit about foul play from human agents of the Fang."

Jaune nodded, relaxing.

"That said, I have a rat problem to take care of before I can focus on anything else."

Qrow placed a file sized envelope on the table.

"What is this Qrow?"

"Info to get you started, suspect list, notes on their file irregularities, and some basic info on the Mistrial underground. Oh and there is a letter for Ruby giving the basic gist. Enough to get her going anyway."

Jaune stared at the envelope. "What makes you think I'm dragging her into this?"

Qrow chugged the last of his drink standing up. "You're not dragging anyone into anything kid, just giving them the choice to follow you." He walked away, hands in his pockets, whistling a tune as he left the inn.

Jaune looked at the envelope again and then at Pyrrha's circlet. _They're gonna get caught in the coming storm anyway, and I could use the allies._ His own rationalization didn't make Jaune feel any better.

* * *

Ruby took a deep breath as she closed the door to her house.

"Hey," Jaune said as she turned to him, a small smile on her face

"Hey Jaune. Ren, Nora, its good to see you." She paused. "Haven's a long way to go."

"I know, but its the only lead we have," Jaune replied.

"And you're sure you want to come along?" She questioned. Ruby knew his answer, she could see it in his eyes. She turned to Ren as he answered.

"The journey will be perilous, and whether we will find answers is unclear." The quiet boy replied.

"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up to it." Nora finished for him with the same determination in her eyes.

Ruby just smiled. "Then let's get started," she said as they set out. She couldn't help but glance at Jaune, as they walked and see the hatred in his eyes as he glared off into the distance. She remembered his warning and began to wonder, _what is your past with Cinder?_

* * *

Revised 10/10 /18

 **So I'll admit when I first wrote this chapter it was a messy rush job. That being said now that my writing has improved and I have a better idea where this story is going I chose to revise this chapter. (Its pretty much a straight retcon. I had almost no clue where this was going when I originally wrote this chapter.) I added in a few interactions that I skipped last time, and lengthened some of the note story segments by adding dialogue. And of course the Grimm fight scene. I promised myself I would add another fight scene, but then I decided to trap Jaune in a cage and taunt him instead of having him buy supplies in Vale. One thing led to another and one of my favorite fights so far was born. I hope you like this better. Constructive criticism still welcome on all chapters.**


	2. Still a Long Way to Go

Wayward Son Chapter 2: Still a Long Way to Go

RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum.

Beta: Tabjoy13

* * *

1 1/2 Months Later

Ruby was worried. Team RNJR, or JNRR if you asked Nora, had only been on the road a month and a half. Traveling at a comfortable pace, they had covered quite a bit of ground already. They hadn't even run into that many Grimm. No, the problem was Jaune. He was practically dead on his feet. She looked to Nora and Ren and saw their mirrored look of concern. _He needs rest, even if he doesn't want it_.

"Jaune," Ruby called out to him. He stopped and turned toward her, eyebrow raised. She had to repress a shudder as she saw the hollow look in his now dull blue eyes.

"Yeah Rubes?" He asked, tiredness evident in his voice.

She took a deep breath. "We should set up camp for the night," she suggested, looking to Ren and Nora who nodded.

"We will be able to cover more ground tomorrow if we are well rested." Ren added.

Jaune sighed. "Okay, but I get first watch tonight."

Ruby just nodded. They had long since given up arguing over him taking first shift. They moved off the road into a small clearing and took off their packs to go collect wood. About twenty five minutes later they were all set up and Ren was almost done cooking dinner.

Nora was being Nora and talking excitedly to Ren, trying and failing to bring Jaune into the conversation. He just kept waving her off while he studied the map. He looked like he was already planning their route out for tomorrow. Ruby hummed quietly to herself as she cleaned her weapon, stealing glances at Jaune's hunched form.

They ate quietly that night, no one really having anything to say. They turned in shortly after. Ruby watched as Jaune got up to take first watch. He sat, shield collapsed next to him, with his sword across his lap.

Ruby rolled over, unable to look at his hunched shoulders. She knew why he was so miserable. He'd lost the woman he loved to someone from a past he'd tried to leave behind. _It's my fault. If I had just been a little bit faster, I could have saved him from this pain, and Pyrrha would still be here._ There was a dull ache in her chest when she thought about the champion's death and how much it hurt Jaune. _I'm sorry Jaune I failed you, I failed Pyrrha_ _I failed Penny, and I couldn't help Yang_ _._

Ruby didn't remember drifting off, but she was awoken by the sound of an explosion. It must have been second shift because it was Ren standing guard. He looked out into the woods as if debating if he should investigate

"I can go check it out" Ruby offered, hefting crescent rose.

Ren just shook his head. "No, I'll handle this." He replied in his usual stoic manner.

"Okay."

The silent ninja began walking towards the source of the noise. Ruby turned to check on Jaune and Nora only to find Jaune's sleeping bag empty, and his weapon and armor missing.

Ruby cast a worried glance at the woods. _Is Jaune the cause of the_ _e_ _xplosion? Or_ _i_ _s he caught in it?_ She briefly wondered, before concluding it must have been him training. _That explains why Ren wanted to go, but why is Jaune training this late?_ She wondered.

* * *

Ren was starting to worry about his leader. He understood the need for revenge against someone who took a person you cared about. Truly he did, but this was unhealthy. They always made sure to get some training in every couple of days on the road and when their in a village, yet his leader insisted on training every night before going to bed just before Ruby's shift, then getting back up halfway through Nora's shift to train some more before setting out.

Thankfully, Ruby was unaware of the regiment Jaune was imposing on himself otherwise things could potentially get ugly. Regardless, this behavior needed to stop otherwise Jaune would never recover from the Fall. With his mind made up, Ren walked into Jaune's clearing to talk.

He found Jaune lying on the ground, soot staining his simple white and gray plate armor. His hands were raw and red from light burns.

"Hey Ren, beautiful night for stargazing am I right?" Jaune greeted.

"Or for blowing yourself up during a late night training session," Ren replied. He lifted up his hands and rubbed his face while he sighed. He dropped his hands and asked, "What were you even doing that you blew up?"

Ren watched his friend shrug while sitting up. "I was trying to weave some dust into some spare clothing." Jaune replied.

Ren raised an eyebrow. "How do you know dust weaving? It's an archaic art that is considered impractical in the modern day." Ren was perplexed as to why Jaune would try such an old method to incorporate dust.

Jaune sighed as he stood. His aura was already healing the burns on his hands as he passed them through his hair. He replied, "I wanted a countermeasure if I ever had to fight a dust mage of the old arts."

Ren knew his friend's answer but he asked anyway. "This is about Cinder, isn't it Jaune?"

Jaune straightened up a bit more and looked him in the eye. They just stood there, staring each other down for but a few heartbeats before Jaune replied defiantly, "So what if it is?"

Ren was feared he'd have to have this conversation eventually. _Better now before Jaune got_ _himself or someone else hurt, that would probably make thi_ _ngs_ _worse_ , Ren mused as he continued to stare his leader down. "This is becoming unhealthy Jaune. Sooner or later your obsession is going to get one of us hurt, most likely you or Ruby." Ren watched his leader grit his teeth but remained silent before he continued. "I've been covering for you by saying nothing to the girls because I thought this was part of your grieving. What do you think Ruby or Nora would have said if they found you out here pushing yourself too far? Did you forget we all lost people that night? We need to be healing not pushing ourselves to the breaking point." Ren insisted in one of his rare cases of emotion. Even he was surprised by the venom and cold fury in his voice.

Jaune recoiled for a moment before he clenched his fist and shouted back, "I didn't push myself far enough before or during Beacon! Because of that, when it came down to it, I couldn't have my partner's back, and now she's gone! " Ren watched silently as Jaune took a few breaths before he continued in quieter tone, "It's my fault Ren. I wasn't strong enough. I made them accelerate their time table and I wasn't ready for it." Jaune's head dropped before he whispered, "I was useless when you guys needed me the most."

"You're wrong." Jaune's head snapped up at Ren's words. "We need you the most now Jaune." Ren insisted. "Ruby needs her first friend to be there for her when her team can't. Nora needs her fearless leader to look to for strength, and I need my brother to stand by my side." He finished softly.

They stood there for a few moments before Jaune tried to reply. "Ren…I.." He tried, struggling to come up with a response.

Ren held up his hand, "Don't. We need you back Jaune, and until you realize that you need us more than you need your revenge, the scars of the Fall will never heal." He then turned, satisfied that he'd made his point. _Hopefully we can get our leader back and start helping him to recover._ Ren walked back to camp not bothering to hear Jaune's response.

Only about ten minutes later Ren watched Jaune walk back into camp, change out of his armor, and get into his sleeping bag. A whole two hours earlier than usual. Ren allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. _Perhaps our talk got through his legendarily dense head._ Ren mused, as he resumed his watch over his friend's sleeping forms.

* * *

Ruby was curious about the explosion that woke her up the previous night. She figured it had to be Jaune that caused it, which would explain why Ren said he would handle it. _But what was he doing? Late night dust training?_ She shook her head, _no there isn't really a way for him to integrate dust into his fighting short of getting a gun. Although late night training would explain the exhaustion, but why didn't he tell us?_

Ruby couldn't help but notice the tension between Ren and Jaune as they packed up, as if they were both expecting the other to make a comment. Jaune was almost outright ignoring Ren as he planned out their route for the day on both maps, despite having done it five times already. Ruby shook her head as she stood there waiting for Ren to finish cleaning and packing his cooking equipment, and for Jaune to get his head out of the maps. She turned to Nora who shared her exasperated look at Jaune and Ren's behavior.

The two boys finally stood up and joined their female counterparts, ready to set out for the day. Jaune handed Ren the second map, and they set out on their way. There was an uncomfortable silence as they walked. Ruby decided to break it. "Hey Jaune, what were you looking over on your maps?" She asked, turning toward the blond knight.

"I was trying to figure out where we were and how long until we reach the east coast." He replied, glancing over to her.

Ruby nodded back, satisfied before Nora innocently asked, "Are we there yet?" Jaune face palmed while Ren and Ruby just chuckled.

"No, Nora. We are roughly half way across this part of the continent." He replied, dragging his hand down his face before continuing. "In the next few weeks we will come across a couple more villages before the open marshland. That will put us three quarters of the way to the shore. Then we just gotta book passage to Anima from a village on the other side of the marshland." He finished. This answer seemed to satisfy the pink bomber and they continued to chat as they walked along the trail.

 _Yup, still got a long way to go._ Ruby thought as she fixed her gaze on the horizon. She would find her answers and the people who wronged them, for her sake as much as for her friends. Maybe once they did, Jaune would tell them the truth of his past.

* * *

Cinder was in tremendous pain. Her left arm was gone from just above the elbow down and the left half of her face still felt like it was being burned. She tried to moan in pain but all that come out was a choked gasp, which caught the attention of Emerald who she could vaguely feel sitting at her bedside. _Always so loyal...my sweet little green haired thief._

Cinder faded in an out of consciousness through a haze of pain, and only vaguely heard what Emerald was screaming into her scroll.

In...

"What do you mean there's no"..."left..."

Out...

In...

"Merc, she's in a lot of pain, you.."

Out…

In…

"Please hurry, beg the Fang if you.."

Out..

In…

Cinder heard the opening of a hatch and the thump of someone landing. There were voices shouting but she couldn't make out the words. Then suddenly she felt a pinch on her arm and the feeling of something foreign being pushed into her blood. After a beat of silence, the terrible pain went away and she drifted off, hearing the choked sobs of her subordinates, her family. _Why can't I hear Jaune's voice?_

* * *

One Month After the Fall

Emerald watched with concern as Cinder tried to put together their emergency supplies with one hand. When Mercury couldn't stand it anymore, he took them and did it for her. Cinder made a hiss of displeasure but Mercury just shrugged it off.

"It's why you have us around remember?" He dismissed it causally, but Emerald saw the concern in her partner's eyes when he took the supplies from their boss.

Emerald cleared her throat, catching Cinder's attention. "Are we ready to move? This safe house will be compromised soon and the outpost where we have a ship stashed at is about four weeks away and it's winter weather from here to there." She mentioned, wanting to get as much ground covered as possible before sundown.

Cinder nodded and typed something into her scroll. "Then let us get going. We will need to find shelter before dark." The computerized voice of text to talk replied. Cinder closed her scroll and put it in her jacket pocket.

Mercury climbed out of their bunker first, while Emerald followed up behind Cinder to make sure she didn't fall. It was slow going but once they neared the top, Mercury reached down and pulled Cinder the rest of the way up by her hand, much to her visible displeasure.

"Shall we get going?" Emerald asked, gesturing down the pathway. She watched Cinder and Mercury start walking, but Emerald lagged behind. She couldn't help but wonder, _will Cinder be able to face Jaune when he comes after us?_

* * *

" _Jaune," Cinder whispered, as he led her up the steep steps of one of the towers in Salem's castle. He didn't reply, he just turned and flashed her a toothy grin. "Your mother is going to be displeased." She pleaded._

" _Where's your sense of adventure Cindy?" Jaune asked, as he pushed open the door to reveal an old observatory._

 _Cinder stood there, looking around at the dusty old equipment that looked like it hadn't been used in years. They were at the top of the shortest tower on the back side of the castle, a rather large room with the roof broken into segments attached to a giant track. There was a high tech telescope that dominated the center of the room. Off to the left were ancient looking star charts and equipment. On the right, where Jaune was walking, was a crank attached to a large set of gears. They appeared to be attached to the same tracks as the roof segments. She watched as Jaune walked over to an old crank and began turning it. With a mighty groan, a panel of the roof slid to the left behind another._

" _Come on, you're gonna want to see this." Jaune said, beckoning her over._

 _Cinder knew she shouldn't but... **Oh screw it, if it makes Jaune happy.** She thought, as she began to walk over to him. She took his hand and looked up to his smiling face as he led her onto a cat walk that wrapped around the outside of the tower and up a ladder to a small platform. Jaune sat down and beckoned her over while looking up at the stars. As she sat down he turned to her, his trademark goofy smile reaching his eyes, the stars framing his face._

" _Do you believe in destiny?" He asked._

 _Cinder wasn't sure how to respond. "What do you mean?"_

 _Jaune kept smiling and looked to the stars. Then his smile dropped, a rare look of seriousness on his 13 year old face. "I asked my mother for the truth about my father today." He said finally._

 _He didn't speak for a few moments so Cinder decided to ask. "What did she say?"_

" _That my village was being extorted by some hunters. My father refused to pay such a ridiculous price so they lured him to their camp." She saw a rage in his eyes she'd never seen before. "They cut his hamstrings and left him there on his knees for the Grimm. Then when the town still refused, they slit my birth mother's throat in the square and drew a hoard of Grimm to the town." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "My mother rescued me and brought me here. Then out of the blue, a few months later, she returns with you, and everything changed for me. I only just realized how much it had changed." He finished by gazing into her eyes, making her blush._

" _What do you mean by that?" She asked, voice quivering. **Damn you vocal cords why must you betray me!** _

_Jaune began smiling again. "Meeting you was part of my destiny. Both of us were wronged by a corrupt group of would-be protectors before we were old enough to protect ourselves. We were brought together under my mother's banner to change the world." He grabbed both her hands in his. "We are going to change the world, that is our destiny Cinder. So I ask again, do you believe in destiny?"_

 _Cinder gazed into Jaune's bright blue eyes for a moment before she replied. "Yes."_

 _Jaune smiled at her and leaned in._

 _ **Is he go** \- her brain short circuited the moment his lips touched hers. It was gentle and tender, and very clear he had no idea what he was doing. A few moments stretched into infinity, until they broke apart for air. **That was amazing.** Cinder gazed into Jaune's eyes again for a few moments before resting her head on his chest. The two just sat there watching the stars, enjoying each other's company._

* * *

"Let's stop for a break." Jaune said, turning to his friends. They nodded and sat down to eat a light snack and drink some water. _I should take this time to test my dust weaving project now that I'm rested._

Jaune stepped into the woods, looking for a clearing. He didn't have to walk far before he found a small clearing maybe fifteen feet wide. _Should be wide enough, I'm not expecting th_ _is one to reach nearly five meters_ _anyway._ He mused as he took his bag off, leaning it up against a tree, and began digging for his new bracer. He pulled out a leather bracer with a piece of black cloth sewn on the underside. He admired the complex, circuit-like lines he had sewn in red dust. _Not as good looking as Cinder's but it should get the job done._

"Right, now for the test." It had taken Jaune a while to get the patterns right. The last one had blown up right as he attached the cloth to the bracer. This one seemed a bit more stable. Jaune took a deep breath as he strapped it onto his left arm and examined it briefly. _It's not quite my old gauntlet, but it will work._ He raised his left hand, palm facing away from him, and concentrated his aura to flow through the circuit of dust. The lines and swirls glowed gold as a jet of fire shot out his palm. He began to close his fingers, shaping the aura funnel in his hand into a more tapered form, concentrating the fire. _It's working! Yes-oh shit somethings wrong._ The patterns began glowing blindingly bright, and Jaune began to feel the heat through the leather. He cut off his aura supply and ripped the bracer off, the treads still glowing, and he threw it into the air right as it detonated above the tree line in a big ball of red and gold, missing the tree-tops by inches. _Oum damn it. I guess Watts was right, I'll never be able to use dust outside of a weapon._ He was interrupted from his thoughts by Ren's approach.

"You know, I thought you were done blowing up clearings Jaune."

Jaune sighed and turned towards his friend. The green-clad ninja stood there, a serious look on his face despite the joke he'd just cracked. Jaune cracked a smile. "Well I'm definitely done now. The dust weaving project is a bust."

Ren just stood across from Jaune, watching him. Jaune straightened up and looked his friend in the eye, challenging him to say what was on his mind.

Ren finally sighed. "Jaune you need to slow down. You call for a break from walking and then sneak off to preform volatile experiments." Jaune watched Ren rub his forehead. "Please, as your brother in all but blood, I'm asking you to slow down and heal before you hurt yourself or someone else with this revenge drive."

"If you really were my brother, then you'd understand why I need to do this," Jaune bit back. He watched Ren blink a few times, and he thought he heard a small gasp but he couldn't care less. "This isn't about revenge, this is about the fact that when it came down to it, I wasn't strong enough to be there for my partner. This is atonement for my mistakes. The people who killed Pyrrha were part of my past. A past I was so desperate to get away from that I abandoned my old weapons and tried to learn a new style of combat. It's my fault..." Jaune took a deep breath "It's my fault I was too weak to help Pyrrha, and I'll be damned if I'm going to lose someone else because I was weak." Jaune paused, "I thought we already had this conversion a few nights ago."

Ren's eyes bored into his own as he replied softly. "We did. I asked you to slow down for our sake's and you haven't. At this rate, you won't be able to help any of us when it matters."

Jaune froze at his friend's words before Ren continued.

"And I'll be damned before I let your recklessness and pride get Nora or Ruby killed."

Jaune just took a step towards Ren as Storm Flower slipped out of Ren's sleeves. Red hot rage burned in Jaune's veins as he drew his sword before he and Ren both took a step.

Suddenly, a pink explosion went off in Jaune's face and he flew back into the center of the clearing. He heard Ren hit a tree across from him. _Guess Nora got him with that one too._ Jaune sat up, only to see the angry face of Nora holding her hammer, and a more nervous looking Ruby holding her scythe.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves. If you care about us sooo much then include us in the conversation!" Nora yelled, waving her hammer around for emphasis.

Jaune looked over to Ren who held a neutral expression. Storm Flower still in his grip.

"I stand by what I said Jaune."

Jaune grit his teeth. "Fine, I'll meet you guys at the next village. Maybe by then you'll be more understanding."

"Jaune wait!" Ruby cried, but he ignored her as he slung his pack over his shoulder and walked away, taking a left at the next fork knowing they would take the right he marked on the backup map.

 _How can he not understand! I need to get better with my weapons, I need to get stronger. I'm no match for Cinder without my old equipment._ Jaune stopped and face palmed. _I almost forgot she's a maiden now, I would barely stand a chance with my gear. I need to kill some Grimm, maybe my mother will feel their deaths._ That thought put a smile on Jaune's face as he let his hatred for his family bubble to the surface of his mind, allowing his aura to reflect and amplify the emotion, turning himself into a beacon for the Grimm.

He didn't have to wait long before he heard something approaching. Jaune drew his sword, unfolded his shield, and stood his ground, waiting for the beast to pounce. He could hear his heart beating for a few moments of unnatural silence, then a Beowolf lunged out from the brush. Jaune sidestepped, bringing his sword down upon the back of its neck, cutting its head clean off. He heard more rustling, and turned around to see a small pack behind him. Jaune threw his arms out wide before saying, "Well who's next," dropping back into a combat stance immediately after. The Alpha began pawing the ground and let out a low growl, signaling the attack.

* * *

Qrow watched from his perch above the road as Jaune challenged a whole pack. He shifted back to his human form and rested his sword on his shoulder. _Can't let the kid get himself killed even if he's been a jerk._ So Qrow watched, ready to jump in but in all honesty it didn't look like he needed to. He watched Jaune duck low of the first swipe, angling his shield over his head, causing the Beowolf to over-extend. He then jabbed his sword into the center of its chest and ripped it out of the left flank. This cut the paw off of the second Beowolf that had attacked, causing the creature to stumble in shock before Jaune slashed its throat out and returned to his ready stance.

 _Not bad, but he's standing like he's using a bastard sword. The kid's gonna over-extend that way, or put too much power into his strikes to compensate for the weight._ Qrow watched Jaune shift his stance, holding his shield out a little farther and at a slight angle, drawing his sword arm back. _Was he trained to lead with a bigger sword and use a smaller shield for defense? That would explain his errors, but he told Amber and me that he wasn't trained except for knife combat._

Qrow was broken out of his musings by the Alpha's roar. The remaining three Beowolfs charged. Jaune angled his shield along his left side and shield-bashed the first one away, dropping low to let the second fly past him. As he stood up, he moved forward, impaling the third on his sword. Before he could take it out, the second took a swipe at his back, throwing him forward and leaving his sword in the dissolving Grimm.

 _This just got interesting._ Qrow thought, as he sheathed his sword. He watched Jaune flick a switch and turn his heater shield sideways on his arm with the point facing his hand, before flicking it again and drawing a large hunting knife. He then assumed a tighter combat stance.

As the first Beowolf lunged, Jaune drove the point of his shield up into its face in a hard left hook, tearing a chunk out of its face before he spun and drove the knife into the hole. He raised his shield to catch the claws of the last Beowolf, tearing the knife out of his last kill before kicking that final beast in the chest. He followed up by whipping the knife in between its eyes and shield-bashing it all the way through its skull. A savage grin adorned his face as he retrieved his sword and faced the Alpha.

 _Damn the kid is brutal. Reminds me of my sister, or Summer when she was really mad._

There was a beat of silence before Jaune finally spoke. "Well come at me you overgrown mutt!" He shouted, challenging the Alpha.

The beast stood there watching the boy before Jaune began to circle it. Man and beast took slow, measured steps, analyzing each other, looking for a hole to exploit. Jaune made the first mistake, slipping on the still dissolving corpse of his last kill. The Alpha lunged, paws out on either side, mouth wide open. On what looked to Qrow like pure instinct, Jaune jammed the shield up into the beast's mouth. Unfortunately, the Alpha bit down and pulled it off Jaune's arm, tossing it to the side as he fell.

Jaune rolled backwards and slashed at the Grimm's chest. He stood up and held his sword in two hands, left arm forward right arm back, sword angled slightly past his right shoulder, setting up for a heavy downward slash. _To obvious kid, this one clearly has some age and brains._ The Alpha seemed to consider the boy's stance before diving for his left. Jaune went to swing down. _It's a feint kid._ Qrow thought, as he grabbed his sword off of his back and got ready to step in. Jaune surprised him however, by bringing his knee up fast with an explosion of aura into the beast's face, stunning it long enough for him to drive his sword into its side.

The Alpha backhanded the boy away. Jaune rolled with the blow and came up with his knife. The Alpha tried to remove the pesky sword from its side but gave up. Instead, it turned towards the boy, a murderous rage in its eyes, only for them to go crossed as knife sunk in between them. Qrow watched Jaune launch himself at the beast with a blast of aura and slam an aura enhanced punch into the hilt of his knife, ejecting it out the back of the creature's head and into the tree behind it. The beast stood for a moment, head tilted back, before it fell flat on its face and began to dissolve.

Qrow sheathed his sword as he watched the young knight retrieve his gear, finding the over-sized knife broken in half. From his perch, Qrow could see Jaune's annoyed expression as he wrapped the shards in cloth and put them in his discarded backpack, sheathing the part still attached to the hilt.

Qrow shifted back into his avian form and flew off to check on Ruby and the rest of her friends. _The kid can handle himself just fine. I definitely got some questions to ask next time we speak though._ Qrow thought, as he glided through the forest looking for a little girl in a red hood.

* * *

 **I am proud to present chapter two of Wayward Son. It took me a bit to find a beta who was available and I am very happy with the one who agreed to help me. Thank you again tabjoy13 for your help. On a different note I go back to work full-time on Wednesday the 16th. While t** **here shouldn't be an unnecessarily long time between chapters, but it may still take some time. As always I hope you enjoy the story.**


	3. The Hardest Direction to Move

Wayward Son Chapter 3: Forward is the Hardest Direction to Move.

RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum.

Beta: Tabjoy13

* * *

For Taiyang the day was going okay. He was in the garden, picking flowers to place by Yang's bedside, when his okay day became a terrible one. Tai heard flapping wings followed by the sound of feet touching on the ground. He stood up and slowly turned around to see a woman dressed in red and black, wearing Grim mask. Her long flowing black hair was a mirror image of his eldest daughter's. A large sheath at her side promised a complicated blade within.

"Leave now Raven."

She took off her mask and smiled at him. "Is a wife not allowed to visit her husband? Or a mother visit her daughter?" She asked.

 _Deep breaths Tai, punching things_ _isn't_ _always the answer._ "You gave up the rights of motherhood when you abandoned your daughter, and my wife died doing the job you ran away from."

Raven's smile dropped. There was a beat of silence between husband and wife as they both waited for the other to make the first move. Tai saw the almost imperceptible twitch before Raven drew her sword. He crossed his arms and formed a barrier in front of himself a split second before her sword connected.

"Did you forget I was your partner in more than just bed Rae?" He taunted, grinning as his wife scowled. She jumped back and sheathed her sword, switching blades. Tai called up his semblance and wrapped his arms in gauntlets, his feet in boots. He slipped into a kickboxing stance as he watched her draw her yellow dust blade. Tai just stood there at the ready while Raven stood across from him, sword relaxed at her side. _If she_ _hasn't_ _followed up by now then she just wants to talk._ He dispelled his barriers as she sheathed her sword. Tai sighed, deciding to get it over with. "What do you want?"

"Why is Yang still sitting in bed, while her sister travels the continent with my brother and the son of Salem?"

 _Did she just say?_ Tai tensed, "Wait Salem's son is with Ruby?" _I have to warn Qrow somehow._

"He appears to have switched sides, but yes the prince of darkness (if you want to use son of Salem and prince of darkness as titles then they should be capitalized, however, I hesitate to do so because it would give the titles more weight than I feel they deserve at this time, are they just making these up?) is traveling with your daughter. You didn't answer my question. Why is Yang still lying in bed?"

"What, you think getting abandoned for the third time in her life right after getting her arm cut off isn't going to mess her up for a while!?" Tai roared, watching his wife tighten the grip on her sheath.

"It's not her fault the cat ran away, I don't see why she's so broken up about it."

 _Unbelievable._ "Because it reminds her of you! You left before she even knew you, Summer never came back, and her partner ran away when she needed her the most!" Raven recoiled before Tai continued. "Turns out losing an arm and yet another person you thought you could depend on is pretty traumatic. Yang has PTSD Rae, but you don't care do you? The strong live and the weak die. You can't possibly understand what she's going through because you don't even know what it means to have a partner you count on." He watched Raven close her eyes.

"I had you." She whispered.

"Yeah, well, you lost that right too when you left." He saw the pain flash across her face before she took a step towards him, hand reached out. _Not this time._ "Go home to your precious tribe, there's no place for you here."

"Tai, wait." She called.

He just turned and walked into the house. _Not this time._ He repeated to himself as he closed the door. He looked out the window only to see a red and black vortex vanish. N _ow I remember why Qrow drinks so much._ Tai mused as he rubbed his face and began preparing lunch. _I hope Qrow is keeping a close eye on Ruby.. Traveling with the son of Salem must be dangerous, even more so if they_ _don't_ _know what he is._ Tai began chopping up chicken and veggies. _Why would Oz let him in the school though? Unless he_ _didn't_ _know._ He was broken out of his musings by the click of a door and the soft patter of feet on the stairs. _I hope she_ _didn't_ _hear that argument._ Tai turned to see his eldest daughter standing there, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why was she here?"

 _Well great._

"Sit down kiddo, we got some things to talk about."

* * *

Sun was sitting on a rooftop watching Blake enter an abandoned warehouse she'd been staying in since the fall. Most of the city had been cleared of Grimm but there were still radical gangsters running around with looted weapons that were killing Faunas, and even attacking Atlas soldiers, blaming them for the attack. Suddenly his scroll started buzzing. _Local radio,_ _it's_ _probably Neptune._

"Sun Wukong speaking," he answered.

"Hey Sun, we're being shipped back home tomorrow at 5:00," Neptune said right out of the gate.

Sun sighed into the phone. "You know I can't go Nep. I promised I'd watch out for Blake."

"Sun you can bring her with us you know. Stop stalking her and just give her an offer to come with us."

"She won't go for it Nep."

There was a pause on the other end. "What if I told you I received a letter from Jaune a few days ago? It was addressed to the two of us."

Sun was surprised by that, _Neptune_ _didn't_ _tell me something._ "I'd ask why I didn't hear about this sooner."

"I had to make sure it was actually from him. Do you remember our last huntsman shadow mission back in Sanctum?"

"You mean the one where our professional huntsman would have been killed, but that guy in the black hood warned us about the hoard? What about it?"

"Jaune is claiming to be that guy." Neptune paused.

 _Wait, what?_

"Sorry Nep, you're gonna have to run that one by me again."

"Jaune was the man in black hood. He described our old outfits perfectly. He described injuries and how we got them. It was just us, the hood, and the Huntsman. No witnesses to tell him about it."

Sun just kind of froze. _Why did he come here? Why did he change weapons?_ "Why tell us though?"

He could practically hear Neptune's smile through the scroll as he answered. "He said he's going to need our help when he gets to Mistral. It's Cinder's next target. He's walking there with Ruby, Nora, and Ren. Should have almost reached the coast by now. Jaune will probably be waiting for us."

Sun looked down at the warehouse. _But what about Blake? Maybe she needs me more than Jaune does._ "Sorry Nep, Blake needs a friend right now. Her worst nightmare just came true right as she let down her guard. I need to be here when she's ready." Sun said, as he posed heroically on the rooftop. Realizing a moment later what he was doing, he sat on the edge of the roof.

"Okay well if you change your mind he asked us to meet at Eric's Emporium. He said he'll be there every day from 1:00 to 3:00 to give us the full story."

Sun looked back at the warehouse as he sat down on the edge of the roof. _I_ _can't_ _. Blake needs someone to be there for her._ "As much as I want to help you and Jaune with your school ending conspiracies, I'm right where I need to be."

Sun heard Neptune sigh, "Alright. You could still try and convince her to come with us. Maybe she's had her own run in with the hood." Sun actually considered that. _With_ _what she used to do for the W_ _hite Fang_ _that's_ _actually possible._

"I'll broach the subject at some point." There was silence for a few moments as Sun swung his feet and looked up at the moon.

"Just don't fall out of a tree, monkey boy."

Sun grinned. "Yeah? Don't drown oh King of the Sea." He laughed with his partner, as they shared their last conversation for a while.

"I'll come back, just keep Sage and Scarlet in line while I'm gone." Neptune snorted through the scroll at Sun's advice.

"Don't do anything stupid. I have to go man, I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later Nep." He hung up his scroll and looked over at his little shelter on the roof. _Might as well get some sleep._ He trudged over to his bed and flopped down. _I'll wait as long as it takes, and when_ _she's_ _ready_ _I'll_ _help her back on her feet._

* * *

Blake woke up the next morning and looked around her dingy little hideaway in the back of an abandoned warehouse. _It reminds me of some of the old hideouts. No, I need to stop thinking about the Fang._ She shook her head and grabbed Gambol Shroud. _I've_ _got to get to the 9:45 shuttle to Vacuo, from there I can take a ship down to Menagerie._ She pulled open the door to her temporary residence then she began re-tying her bow. Blake set out towards the air docks where she knew there would be shuttles for students heading to various kingdoms.

She couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Yang, and the others. _No stop, they are fine I can't worry about them. I need to get home. I can sort everything out there. Besides,_ _it's_ _my fault Adam hurt Yang._ _I'm_ _the last person she wants to see._ Blake shook her head as she reached the air yards. _I have to focus._ She began checking flight listings, looking for an outbound to Vacuo. As Blake approached a ship, she heard a courier shouting her name.

"Miss Belladona! Miss Belladona!" Blake turned around to see a man waving a letter above his head.

"A letter for you Ma'am from a Jaune Arc of Camp Araminic." Blake froze. _How the hell could he know about that?_ She took the letter, a simple white envelope addressed to her.

"Thank you." She slipped off to a quiet corner to open the letter, and began to read.

Dear Blake,

I know you are probably panicking about how I could know about Camp Araminic. I can confirm there were no mission reports, and no witnesses to our actions that night. I am the Black Hood Adam asked you to help.

The group I worked for was led by Cinder Fall, and I was partnered with Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Yes you read that right. They framed Yang and were the ones behind the attack. Ruby, Ren, Nora, and I are almost to Mistral by now. It's the next target on her list.

I need your help. Both of us have left our families because we became disillusioned, and with the Fall our worst nightmare came true when our families attacked us in our new home and hurt our friends. I used to love Cinder, but she killed Pyrrha, the first person to see the good in me, and the woman I grew to love. Our families worked to destroy our second chances, and now they are going to destroy Mistral. Please, I need your help to stop them.

Sun and Neptune have received their own letter and will hopefully be meeting up with me. Please join them, I'll be at Eric's Emporium every day from 1:00 to 3:00 as soon as we arrive. I'll give you guys the full story then.

Something big is coming, the darkness is moving in faster than people think. We need your help in the coming days. I hope you choose to stand up and help us.

Sincerely,

Jaune Arc

Blake read the letter a second time. _He wants my help._ She looked over at the schedule listing the Mistral flight as 5:00. She turned back to the loading ship for Vacuo. S _orry Jaune, you don't need a coward like me._ Blake couldn't help but feel guilty about turning her back on another friend who needed her. _But_ _that's_ _what I do right? I run away._

"Blake wait!" _Huh?_ Blake turned around to see Sun waving his hands above his head.

"What do you want Sun?"

He paused, out of breath. "I know you blame yourself but don't you think you should work things out with your team?"

"My team broke up."

Sun began grinning. "Nep and I got a letter from Jaune. He and Ruby are moving on the people who are responsible for the Fall."

"I know Sun, he sent me a letter too, but I'm not going." Sun's grin dropped. _Because Adam will come after me, and_ _I'm_ _a coward._ "I need to sort some things out with my family." _Please_ _don't_ _try and talk me out of it._

"Okay," was Sun's calm reply.

"You're not going to stop me?" Blake was genuinely surprised.

With a determined look, Sun continued. "I'm not going to leave you though. All jokes aside, your worst nightmare just came true and hurt the people closest to you." He held up his hands before Blake could retort. "I'm not saying you need to go on a revenge rampage. I'm just saying you need time to collect yourself, and I'll be here when you're collected and ready to get back in this fight."

 _Why?_ "Why do you care so much? Doesn't Jaune need your and Neptune's help?

Sun pointed at her. "He also needs you, but he can wait. Helping you is more important."

Blake closed her eyes. _You'll_ _just get hurt like everyone else_. "Sun, I appreciate the offer, but Jaune needs you more than a coward like me." She turned around and walked towards the ship, not saying another word. Blake felt a presence behind her. "Look Sun just-" her sentence was cut off by the barrel of a gun pressing into her back.

"Nice and slow kitty cat. You gotta pay for what your kind did."

 _Well shit._

The man pulled Gambol Shroud off her back and led her down an empty service ally. Blake got kicked in the back and tripped over a crate. She rolled over to see a large man in his mid-thirties, scars and tattoos lining his muscled frame.

He sneered down at her. "Your animal friends killed my gang mates, my brothers. You're gonna pay for it." He pointed his shotgun at her face. "Any last words?"

 _I'm_ _sorry Yang._ Blake closed her eyes, only to hear a whistle and feel her sword slide into her hand. She didn't hesitate, switching it to gun mode and firing a shot in each of the man's kneecaps. She kicked the gun out of his hand as a familiar red and gold shotgun-nun chuck was pressed up against the man's head. She turned her head to Sun who was on the phone waiting for something.

"Hello, officer Burns, yeah it's Sun. I got another fanatic in service ally six at the air docks." She could faintly hear someone speaking on the other end, Sun just nodded. He hung up and stood there.

"Who was that?"

Sun turned towards her and shrugged. "A police officer I've been helping round up fanatics like this asshole."

That surprised Bake. _I thought_ _he'd_ _been here with the other students, resting, not out in the city._

He rubbed the back of his head with a free hand. "I was watching over you when I saw some of these guys coming after you. After I beat them up and turned them in, I was asked to do it for any of them I saw in the act."

 _He was what!?_ "You were spying on me!?"

Sun flinched at her anger. "I promised Weiss I'd look out for you."

Her gaze softened. _Maybe I could use a little backup._ Blake smiled at her friend. "Hey Sun, do you want to meet my parents?"

Sun began bouncing up and down, before calming down and smiling at her. "I'd be delighted."

Blake smiled back.

They dropped the fanatic off with the police and boarded the airship to Vacuo. As they took off, Blake sat down next to Sun and rested her head on his shoulder. _Maybe I can be selfish just this once. After all,_ _we're_ _just visiting my home,_ _what's_ _the worst that could happen?_

* * *

Weiss stared at her sword. It was her pride and joy, her tool of freedom, a symbol of her honor, and strength. _A joke, I_ _couldn't_ _help anyone with it, and I_ _wasn't_ _strong enough to stand up to my father to stay and help._ She placed Myrtenaster back in its case, as she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." She watched the door open as Kline stepped in with a small letter in hand. _A letter? Is it from Ruby?_

Kline smiled at her as he presented the letter to her. "It's from Billy Thyruss, the son of Marcus Thyruss the weapons manufacturer."

 _Why is he of all people sending me a letter?_ "Why? I haven't spoken to him since he helped make my weapon."

Kline merely shrugged, his smile still present. "I have no clue, but it smells faintly of baking soda." Kline handed her the letter with a little twinkle in his eye that Weiss couldn't quite put her finger on. Weiss took the letter out of her butler's hands as he bowed.

"Thank you Kline."

"Of course, Miss Schnee." Kline left the room a moment later, and Weiss turned her attention back to the letter in her hands.

 _I wonder what this could be about?_ She opened it and began reading.

Dear Weiss,

It has been too long, Snow Angel. I was worried about you when I heard about Beacon. I am dreadfully sorry about what you had to suffer through.

I would like to take you out on a breakfast date to help take your mind off of things. I promise I won't spill any grape juice on your back this time.

Please respond as soon as possible Snow Angel, it would be nice if you could drop by for some chess. I still have your favorite piece, the golden knight.

With regards,

Billy The Yellow Death

 _Since when did he call himself Yellow Death?_ She read the letter over again, noticing a few strange flaws. _We never went on a date. Plus,_ _he's_ _certainly never split grape juice down my back, and no one ever calls me Snow Angel except...Jaune! Of course, Crocea Mors means Yellow Death!_ She remembered a story Jaune told at the breakfast table about his sisters writing secret messages with baking soda and revealing them with grape juice. She rushed out of her room and down to the manor's kitchen to grab a glass of juice. She returned to her room and took a cotton swab, out of her bathroom and dipped it in the juice. She flipped the letter over and began to coat the back in a thin layer of grape juice. She dropped the cotton swab and only had to wait a few moments before Jaune's hidden message was revealed. _Clever boy._

Hey Weiss,

I know right? I'm just as surprised as you are that you remember what I said at our last breakfast. I may have concocted a terrible plan to try and stop Cinder and her team, but at least one of the fail-safes worked.

We need your help Weiss. By the time you receive this letter, Ren, Nora, Ruby, and I will be almost to the edge of Sanus, and by the time we cross the sea and reach Mistral by land you should be able to make it here by airship. Weiss I need you to run away. I know what I'm asking of you, I know it seems impossible. We're going to need you in the coming days.

Beacon was just the beginning, next comes Mistral, then most likely Atlas. I can't tell you everything in this letter and I know you have so many questions. If you do come, when we arrive I will be at Eric's Emporium every day from 1:00 to 3:00. Please Weiss, Ruby needs you. I'll do my best to be there for her but she needs you more than she needs me. I wish you luck, and I understand if you don't want to risk it, but please prepare yourself.

Sincerely,

Jaune Arc

Weiss blinked a few times before reading the letter again. _Beacon was only the beginning._ Weiss put the letter down and sat on her bed thinking it over. _It would be relatively easy to run away. Just slip past the guards with some clothes and my weapon. It would be nice...but Father_ _won't_ _stand for it._ _He'll_ _hunt me down and punish Jaune and the others for "kidnapping" me._ Weiss folded the letter back up and opened her desk drawer. With a small pulse of aura the hidden lock popped open. T _hank you Joan Arc for aura locks._ She pulled up the false base and hid the letter. _Sorry Jaune,_ _I'll_ _do what I can from here._ Weiss walked over to her weapon's case and closed the lid. She took a deep breath and slid it under her bed. She heard a knock on her door and turned around shaking her head. "Come in."

Kline opened the door with his usual smile. "So what was the secret message from your admirer?"

 _He knew there was a secret message._ "Why didn't you just tell me how to show the message if you knew about it?"

Kline's grin widened and eyes twinkled mischievously. "Where is the fun in that my Little Snow Flake."

Weiss shook her head at her butler's antics. "It was a friend from school, he was asking me to help him and my partner go after the people who attacked Beacon."

Kline raised an eyebrow. "Shall I fetch you some more dust madam?"

"I'm not going Kline. Father will never allow it and besides, I can still help from here if I can convince the General to send aid to Mistral, or even to help him fortify Atlas before they set their sights on us."

Kline's smile dropped, and he shook his head for a moment. "Maybe you can, but your friends need your help now, and you're always stronger together than apart." He finished, a warm smile on his face.

 _But_ _I'm_ _not strong enough to leave_. Weiss turned away from Kline, pushing the drawer closed.

"Sometimes the hardest direction to move is forward. So, when you're ready, I'll be here, just a call away."

Weiss didn't turn around. "That will be all Kline."

"As you wish, Miss Schnee."

She heard the door close behind her. She walked over to her bed and sat down. _Moving forward huh. But does that mean moving towards my friends and away from my broken family, or away from my only friends and further into my_ _Father's_ _arms._ Weiss lay there on her bed, wondering what she should do. _It would be rather easy to slip out, but that could bring unwanted attention. I_ _can't_ _let them break me out, that would definitely get too much unwanted attention._ She sat back up and looked over to a small picture of team RWBY and team JNPR, taken right before the Vytal Festival.

She remembered Kline saying it was the only photo he could think of in recent years that she had a genuine smile. _I can't just let them do it by themselves, but I need to be stronger before I can be of any help._ She looked at the smiling faces, the blond goofball and her leader grinning like idiots. Her eyes drifted to the smiling Pyrrha. _Pyrrha'_ _s_ _smile looked so much more genuine at Beacon._ Weiss thought, _Ruby, Jaune,_ _I'll_ _be ready. For Pyrrha, and for Beacon._

Weiss turned around and retrieved Myrtenaster's case from under her bed. She opened the lid and took out the trusty rapier. Weiss briefly examined the weapon to make sure it was in top condition, before grabbing her dust out of the case and leaving her room, walking down the hall to go train. She looked up at the portrait of her grandfather, smiling in front of a new mine with his employees all around him. _I promise grandfather, I will fix your legacy, but first my friends need me._

* * *

Yang sat at her kitchen table, her lunch uneaten in front of her while her father quietly ate.

"Why was she here, after all these years. What did she want?"

She watched Tai put down his fork and take a sip of water before he responded. "She wanted to know why you weren't half way across the continent with your sister."

"Who is the Son of Salem she spoke about and why is he with Ruby?"

Tai brushed a hand through his hair. "It's complicated. Qrow is watching them and he appears to be on our side anyway."

Yang poked at her stir-fry before continuing. "Why does she care about me now?"

"It's not that she just started caring, it's that your mother cares best from a distance something her semblance helps with."

Yang was confused by that statement. "How does her semblance help?"

"Your mother has the ability to create portals from anywhere on Remnant to an anchor point. The easiest anchors to create are to people she has an emotional connection to. Regular people are also relatively easy just slightly more draining. If she creates an anchor to a place, it will drain her aura completely and leave her exhausted. As far as I know, she has anchors on you, me, and Qrow."

 _So she could have come back with no effort. She's probably been watching_ _what's_ _going on periodically without saying anything._ That thought made Yang angrier than she'd been in while. She got up without saying another word and walked back to her room. She sat on her bed and looked out the window for a few minutes before she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Tai entered with a letter in his hand. "You know they say that you can't start a new chapter in your life unless you stop re-reading the last one." He paused. "Moving forward means accepting what happened in the past and not letting it define you, but letting it give you the start for who you're going to be."

Tai planted a kiss on Yang's head, opening the letter and placing it on the bed.

Yang watched her father leave before she picked up the letter. _It's_ _probably from Ruby._ She began to read the letter.

Hey Yang,

It's me, Ruby, I wanted to let you know that we're all fine. Well, mostly fine. Ren and Nora are doing okay. I'm doing my best to keep moving forward, but I worry about Jaune. Other than Jaune's unhealthy revenge obsession, things have gone great. Most towns are happy to give us supplies and a place to sleep in return for clearing a local Grimm infestation. By the time this reaches Patch, we will almost have reached the coast and will be ready to start the final leg of this little journey. I wish you were here with us, but I'm willing to wait as long as it takes for you to re-join us. I hope you get better soon sis.

Sincerely,

Ruby Rose

Yang read the letter again before placing it face down on her bed, bringing up her left hand to rub her face. _I don't think_ _I'll_ _be getting better any time soon sis._ As she opened her eyes, she noticed another letter on the back of Ruby's letter. _What?_

Hey Yang,

It's Jaune. I know I'm the last person you were expecting a letter from.

I'm sure Ruby told you we are closing in on Mistral, I wanted to ask you to join us. I'm sure if he hasn't already, your father is going to call in some favors to get you a huntsman grade prosthetic.

We're going to need you in this fight. I'm not saying you have to strap on the arm and run off to Mistral, but that's where we'll be. When we leave, I'll send another letter telling you where this takes us, and another, and another, until you're ready.

Something big is coming, a war fought in the shadows is about to come into the light. Beacon was the beginning, next comes Mistral, and when all the kingdoms lay broken and squabbling, the true enemy will emerge and claim her victory. Whether it's today or tomorrow, we're going to need your help, Ruby is going to need your help.

I know you have questions, and if you decide to come to Mistral, I'll be at Eric's Emporium every day from 1:00 to 3:00 while in the city. Good luck adjusting to your new normal, and I hope you can find that famous Xiao Long strength and use it to get back up.

Sincerely,

Jaune Arc

 _A_ _war in the shadows?_ Yang read over the letter again, pondering it for a moment. _He said the real enemy was a she. Could that be the Salem that_ _my mother_ _mentioned? That could explain a few things, the only way Jaune would know about a shadow war is if he was a part of it, which probably makes him the son._

Yang placed the letter on her nightstand as she considered Ruby and Jaune's words. She glanced down at her pajamas and then over to her closet. _Maybe it is time to get up._ She stood up and walked over to her closet to get dressed. _I have to talk to my dad about a prosthetic before I can go anywhere, but I can at least take the first steps on my own._

* * *

Ruby glanced at the map Jaune had given Ren, looking over the notes on the next village they were about to come across, Dorrmy. _Jaune marked this one as a rest stop._ She glanced at the next three villages marked on the map, Serith, Marana, and Ansle. _Why does he have us stopping at Marana for resupply and just passing through Ansle? We don't need to resupply that soon, and we should at least have one last night with showers before the Marshlands._ She was broken out of her musings by a tap on the shoulder from Ren.

"We have arrived."

Ruby glanced up to see the walls of Dorrmy. As they entered, they saw the inside wall decorated with a mural of huntsman standing triumphant over dead Grimm, with scattered smaller paintings clearly done by children.

"Oh Ren look, aren't those the cutest!" Nora screamed, latching onto Ren's arm and pointing at the stick figure of a blond man with a sword and shield standing next to a woman with brown hair holding a staff capped with what looked like dust crystals. The two were depicted standing back to back, the woman taller than the man, both of them surrounded by a hoard of Grimm.

 _Is it meant to represent a specific battle?_ Ruby wondered.

"Yes, Nora I see it. It is an interesting ascetic choice." The quiet boy replied, his partner still dangling off his arm. The three were interrupted by a voice calling out to them.

"You three are huntsman correct?"

Ruby turned her attention to a man who looked startlingly like Professor Port, with a few exceptions. Nora pointed the differences out immediately.

"Look it's Professor Port's twin brother. He looks just like him! Well except for the red beard and the fact that we can see his eyes, and he has those red streaks in his hair."

Ren shook his head before correcting her, "Nora it's not very likely that we would run-"

He was interrupted by the look like's boisterous response. "You're students of my brother Peter? Splendid, then you should have no problem helping us with our infestation in exchange for food and lodging?"

Ruby blinked a few times, _did he just say brother?_ "Professor Port is your brother?"

"Why yes! I am his more handsome twin brother Charles Port, but please call me Charlie." The now named Charlie boasted, posing heroically just like Port did during class.

 _Okay, he even talks and stands like him, this is kind of creepy._ Ruby shared a brief look of disbelief with Ren before responding. "We would be more than happy to help in return for a place to stay for a day or two Mr. Port."

Charlie smiled before clapping his hands together. "Splendid! Follow me to my office and I'll give you everything we know on our infestation."

So After their briefing on the local Grimm, Ren, Nora, and Ruby left the mayor with instructions to send Jaune their way when he got there, deciding to get a head start on the extermination. _There_ _aren't_ _that many according to the report,_ _we'll_ _be fine without our strategist._ Ruby thought, as the trio trekked out into the woods toward the last known location of the Ursa pack.

* * *

Jaune waved to the guards as he stepped inside the familiar walls of Dorrmy Village. _The last time I was here was with Amber._ As he stepped into the walls, he glanced at a child's drawing of a blond haired man with a sword and shield standing back to back with a brown haired woman with a dust staff in the middle of a pack of Beowolfs. _That Beowolf pack fight was the first time I used my_ _father's_ _sword in combat. Amber had to save me so many times it_ _wasn't_ _funny._ He smiled at the memories of his first fight with his friend before being interrupted by Port's twin brother, Charles.

"My goodness, when they said their blond haired friend Jaune would be right behind them I had no idea it would be Amber's friend. Welcome back Jaune." The rotund mayor greeted, a wide smile on his face as he held his hand out for Jaune to shake.

Jaune smiled back as he took Charlie's hand. "Charlie, it's been a while, have you heard any news of Vale from your brother?" He asked. _Please be good news._

"Why yes I just received a letter last week from my brother." He stroked his beard as he continued, "If I recall correctly, he said he had been working directly with second years from team CFVY, and a freshman team called CRDL that refused to sit out of the action. According to my brother, the city is almost clear and life has just about returned to normal, though Beacon tower is still lost. A temporary tower is under construction till the grounds can be cleared." The mayor finished.

 _So not too bad,_ _I'll_ _be able to contact the others directly soon._ Jaune nodded his head at Charlie's words. "That is good news I suppose. So what did you send my friends into?" He questioned.

Charlie gestured for him to follow. "There was a small gathering of Ursa spotted up north by Deep Wood Ravine. You know, where those kids were trapped by that pack you helped save them from two years ago." He answered as they walked toward the town hall.

Jaune scratched his chin as they walked. "Why would they settle in the same spot as that pack? Is there something there?" He asked.

Charlie Shrugged shrugged, as they entered the hall and walked to his office in the back. "We have no idea truth be told. Perhaps there is an ancient Grimm sleeping there they are attracted to. Who knows? We'll hire someone to investigate later after the place is cleared out." He picked a file folder off his desk and presented it to Jaune. "Here's the juicy details lad. Good luck."

Jaune accepted the folder and placed his pack next to his friends on the wall. He reached in for his water bottle and his hand brushed one of his dust projects. _They may be unusable for their intended goal, but I bet they make great grenades._ He considered briefly before placing a spare fire bracer on his left arm, and the lightning one on his right.

Jaune turned back to the second Port. "Thanks for working out a deal with my friends Charlie."

Charlie just smiled. "Think nothing of it. Consider it a thank you for your help last visit."

Jaune waved goodbye and began reading the file as he walked out of the north gate and toward the ravine in question. _It will probably be a mop up by the time I get there but oh well. I can apologize_ _for being late, and talk to Ren after._

* * *

 _Well that report was way off. Hopefully Jaune has advanced warning._ As Ren slashed the throat of an Ursa open, he turned his attention back to his companions "Nora, Ruby, up here!" Ren shouted, pointing to an incline.

"Got it Ren!"

Ren turned to a tree growing out of the rocks. Stepping behind it, he struck out with an aura enhanced kick, splintering the base. The tree fell forward on top of an Ursa and began rolling down the incline towards the approaching Grimm. Ren stood in between Ruby and Nora, glancing at his companions.

Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose and spoke as Nora and Ren reloaded. "Well this didn't go as planned, hopefully Jaune doesn't get trapped by them."

Ren glanced over to Ruby's worried expression. _He really_ _shouldn't_ _have run off._ "He'll be fine Ruby. Jaune may be a bit thickheaded but he's not stupid."

Ruby looked over at him. "You're right, Jaune will be fine."

Ren turned his attention back to the approaching Grimm. _The report said there would only be about ten, maybe fifteen Ursa._ _There's_ _got to be at least twenty five left._ Ren was broken from his thoughts by the first Ursa reaching them. _We could really use someone with a shield._

* * *

Jaune looked down into the ravine. He spotted Ruby, Ren, and Nora at the top of an incline, trying to hold back a large group of Ursa. _I gotta get down there. They need_ _at least one_ _vanguard to break to break the line._ As Jaune made his way down into the ravine from behind his friends, he kept one eye on his friends and another eye on the terrain. _I wish I had a gun._ Jaune was broken out of his musings by Nora's scream.

"Ruby!"

Jaune's blood froze as he reached the edge of the ledge above his friends. He tore off his right bracer and pumped aura into the shock dust. He saw Nora standing over Ruby while Ren checked a gash on her side.

Jaune threw the lightning bracer as it reached critical charge, shouting to Nora. "Nora catch!"

Nora slammed her hammer down and turned to catch the bracer. She raised an eyebrow at it before it gave off a small spark. She hugged it to her chest and turned to the Grimm. As the improvised grenade went off, Jaune watched arcs of lightning stun the leading Ursa while Nora's body began crackling with pink lightning.

The advancing Grimm stopped as Nora began to cackle like a maniac and the Ursa surged back as she started chasing them.

Jaune slid down the cliff next to Ren, expanding his shield and drawing his sword, moving to stand in front of Ren and Ruby. He watched Nora start retreating as he checked in with Ren. "Sit-rep, how is she?"

"She'll live, but we need to get her out of here before she loses too much blood. She also took a blow to the head when her aura broke."

Jaune turned his head to look at the back of the ravine. _I think the exit cave was on the left._ "Nora, grab Ruby and head further in." He pointed to a set of caves, "One of those has an exit tunnel. When you get to the top, give us covering fire."

"You got it Jaune-Jaune." Nora saluted him before slamming her hammer into an Ursa, giving Ren and Jaune breathing room. She picked Ruby up and took off up the incline.

Jaune turned his attention to the Ursa in front of him, blocking powerful claws and slashing at throats and joints, while Ren weaved in and out using Storm Flower in combination with aura strikes. Jaune glanced to his left and spotted a bunch of unstable rocks. _That might work._

"Ren! Fall back and topple that pillar behind me."

Ren looked at the indicated pillar and dashed up to it. Signaling his ready, Jaune caught an overhead swipe, turned inside, under his shield, and cutting the Ursa's head off in one move. He made a mad dash up the incline and signaled Ren with a wave. Jaune heard the sound of stone tumbling down a hill and the roars of the Ursa pushed back by the falling rocks.

Jaune re-joined Ren and pointed to the unstable ravine side. "I need you to aura strike my bracer into those rocks. When it detonates, the falling rocks should kill the remaining Ursa."

"On it."

Jaune handed the bracer to Ren and took a step back as he charged his strike and then hit the piece of leather armor into one of the larger cracks. The two men then ran to the exit cave as there was a loud explosion, and the horrifying cries of twenty Ursa being buried alive.

When they reached the top, they found a pouting Nora. "Why didn't you ask me to blow it up?"

Jaune and Ren shared a glance of exasperation while they were hunched over, trying to catch their breath.

"You'll be the first person we call next time something needs to be blown up." Ren promised.

Nora seemed satisfied with that answer as she picked Ruby up and began walking back to the village, leaving the boys there, panting.

* * *

They all sat around Ruby while a doctor checked her for a concussion. Jaune was fiddling with a broken knife. Nora was questioning him on how he made the explosion. Ren was busy arguing with Ruby.

"But I feel fine Ren." Ruby whined.

"No Ruby, you hit your head after your aura broke so you have to get checked for a concussion. You shouldn't have been fighting distracted."

"I should have been there." Jaune said, interrupting their conversation.

Ren turned his head to look at Jaune who was standing there, head down.

"It wasn't your fault Jaune, I was just distracted." Ruby tried to reason.

"But it was his absence that distracted you." Ren interjected. _He needs to know the consequences._

Jaune and Ruby visibly winced. "I know it's my fault Ren, and it's going to stop." He raised his head and looked Ren in the eyes. "I was so focused on getting strong enough for my revenge that I pushed you guys out of the picture, and I forgot what you guys lost too. I'm sorry, I'm going to stop training so long every night, and more importantly, I want to be there to help my friends heal too."

Ren smiled as his leader looked each of them in the eye. "Good, it's about time you got it through your thick skull."

Jaune cracked a smile at Ren. "Yeah I guess it is."

Their bonding moment was interrupted by the doctor coughing. Ren almost jumped, _I totally forgot about her._

The doctor stood there, arms crossed, a small smile on her face. "As cute as your little male bonding moment is, your friend is free to go. There will be no lasting symptoms from the hit on Miss Rose's head, and her aura will heal the small gash in her side in a day or two."

Ren stood up and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you for your help doctor Amari. How much for the check up and aid?"

The doctor laughed. "No, you kids just helped this town, it would be rude to charge you. Especially since this is Jaune's second time helping us out."

Ren looked to Jaune, eyebrow raised. Jaune gave him a weak smile before waving to the doc sheepishly.

"Hey doc, I promise I have no injuries this time."

The doctor just stared Jaune down, who wilted under her look. Ren watched Jaune continue to shrink in on himself. He looked to Nora and Ruby who were both as confused as he was.

"Gee Jaune-Jaune, what did you do to piss off the scary doctor lady?" Nora asked.

Doctor Amari turned her withering gaze away from Jaune, rubbing a hand down her face. "Jaune stayed here for a month after he and his friend, Amber, took care of that pack. Every few days he would come in here with small injures, usually from fighting minor Grimm. Then one day, Amber drags him in because he went toe to toe with an Ursa bare handed."

Ren shook his head. _He fought an Ursa bare handed? Why am I not even surprised._

Nora jumped up. "Did you win Fearless Leader? Did you break its head in half with one punch?"

Jaune shook his head. "I got thrown through four trees, which broke my right arm and three ribs. I had to stab it about four, five times in the throat and head with my knife. One eye was swollen shut and the other had some blood in it, so I'm not really sure where I stabbed it. But it managed to break my other arm before the end."

Ren blinked. "It threw you through four trees, blinded you in both eyes, and you decided to draw a knife and blindly stab it?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I didn't have many options and I didn't want to die."

"But you wanted to punch an Ursa in the face?" Ruby questioned.

Jaune winced. "I was a little pissed off and it sounded like a good idea, but I should have worn gauntlets."

Ren just stared at Jaune. "Or maybe you shouldn't have punched an Ursa in the face and just stuck to stabbing it with your sword."

Doctor Amari cleared her throat. "If you four are done discussing Jaune's bad choices, you can go."

Ren glanced at the others as they stood up and said their goodbyes to the doctor. _Well this has been an eventful day._ Ren was interrupted from his musings by Jaune.

"We should all head to the inn and get some sleep. We can take tomorrow to rest a bit, then we set out midday and we'll be in the next village by the following midday." Jaune said, as they entered the inn.

As they reached the doors to their rooms, Ruby spoke up. "I was looking at the map and I wanted to know why you marked Ansle as a fly by village? Shouldn't we resupply, and take a hunt for some money just in case we don't have enough for the boat? Not to mention one last shower before the marshlands."

Jaune scowled slightly before adopting a neutral expression. "I suppose that's a good plan. Good night." Jaune entered the room he was sharing with Ren with just that short goodbye.

 _Well that was odd_. Ren glanced at a confused Nora and Ruby. He just shrugged and wished them goodnight, entering the room. He spotted Jaune in the far bed, armor piled at the foot of his bed. _I_ ' _ll just ask him tomorrow. Probably just some bad memories._

* * *

Salem's Castle: One Month After the Fall

Salem sat at the head of her inner circle, currently missing a member who was the topic of this meeting.

Watts was the first to speak. "I have not received any radio communications from Cinder or her disciples. There is a possibility that their hideout's radio isn't strong enough to reach us. I would assume they are alive until we can confirm otherwise."

Salem considered this for a moment. "Thank you Watts, keep trying and prep a ship should they make contact."

She looked to Tyrian. "What news do you have on my wayward son?"

The scorpion began to giggle before bowing. "The Prince is on his way to Mistral with the daughter of Summer Rose and his two remaining team mates from Beacon. The others search for answers held by the Prince, and he remains hidden in plain sight, aiding our enemies without giving himself away."

"Thank you Tyrian, that will be all."

She waved her hand, dismissing her council. _I wonder if Ozpin knew who he was letting into his school?_ She wondered.

She stood up and walked to her trophy room, pushing open the large black doors. The silver inlays on the doors depicted the great defeats of human kind. Their broken forms were decorations, memorializing her greatest triumphs. She walked past the legendary weapons of the forgotten champions of dead civilizations, past the weapons of the Wizard's companions organized by the incarnation of the wizard, to the very back where the trophies of the modern day were kept. She came to a stop in front of a pedestal marked Nicholas Arc. It sat empty, the legendary weapon of the Arcs, Crocea Mors was gone.

 _Does my son even know what that weapon has done, and what it is still capable of doing?_ Salem wondered as she traced a faded scar through her clothes.

As she turned to leave, she looked at the red and gold sword on the next pedestal, draped with a tattered white cloak. Salem read the names engraved on the hilt of the weapon. _Yang & Ruby._

 _How very cute Miss Rose._ Salem loved reminding herself that there were still pure souls to crush. _Perhaps it will be even more fun to kill the daughter than it was the mother._ She mused as she walked away from Summer Rose's pedestal, the tattered white cloak rustling from her passage.

* * *

 **Not gonna lie I got this out faster than I thought, you never realize how much free time you have. I'll continue to work on my off days, and spare time but still things are inevitably going to slow a little bit. It was fortunate that I had already written most of this chapter before I went back to work. As always I hope you enjoy the story.**


	4. Half Truths & Fake Smiles

Wayward Son Chapter 4: Half Truths & Fake Smiles

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

Team RNJR rose early for a hot shower and free meal courtesy of the inn keep. Then, after they said their goodbyes to Port's twin, they set out for the village of Serith. There they planned to resupply with whatever they couldn't find in Dorrmy before passing through Marana and stopping in Ansle. A few days after their departure, Ruby and Nora revisited the debate to end all debates; Pancakes vs Cookies.

* * *

Ren couldn't help but roll his eyes as Nora and Ruby launched into THAT debate again. He was surprised they hadn't had to stop yet for the two to duke it out to decide the victor as they had the last five times the subject had been brought up. The score as of the last duel is Nora: 2 Ruby: 3, they have left many a wrecked clearing behind them since they left Dorrmy a few days ago. _I wonder if people will think they were sights of epic battles against Grimm, not knowing they were spars about pancakes and cookies._ Ren mused until Jaune interrupted his thoughts by tapping on his shoulder.

Ren turned to his leader, eyebrow raised. Jaune just flashed his trademark goofy grin before coating his palms in aura and slamming them together creating a small white shockwave to get the girls attention. _Huh, never thought of that. A little unrefined but it could be a good distraction move._

Then Jaune spoke. "What about cookie dough pancakes?" He asked.

 _Wait, what?!_ Ren looked at Nora and Ruby's looked of wonderment as their eyes turned towards him. _Curse you Jaune!_ Ren screamed in his head as Nora latched onto his left arm and Ruby onto his right.

"R-e-n!" Nora singsonged.

Oh no, he thought as her grip tightened.

"You are making Jaune's brilliant idea in the next village." She ordered.

He just sighed before shooting his leader the other male a glare. "Yes, Nora." He replied, in his usual flat voice, still glaring at Jaune.

Jaune just winked at him, grin still firmly in place. _It's good to have you back Jaune._ Ren was torn from his thoughts by Ruby's squeal.

"Look at the cute little bunny!"

Ren looked to where she was pointing to see a rather large black rabbit facing away from them. Ruby, approached it slowly placating hands outstretched. Then Ren felt something through his aura, a warning flare as he spotted a strange black mass protruding from the rabbit's back and down its side. _Something is not right about that rabbit._

"Ruby, back away from the bunny slowly. I sense something off about it." He cautioned.

Ren and Jaune quietly drew their weapons as Ruby slowly backed up and Nora took aim. However, Ruby snapped a twig and the rabbit turned around to reveal a Grimm mask on its face and a tongue-looking appendage snaking out of its back and down its side into a large bush. The rabbit Grimm was suddenly pulled into the bush as the true Grimm emerged. It looked like a giant toad with the arms of a Beowolf. Protecting spines crisscrossed its back in a diamond pattern. The thing opened its mouth to reveal rows of teeth with the rabbit sitting in the center.

 _Well this is new._ The rabbit dashed at Ren from the maw of the Grimm only to be pinned to the ground by Jaune's sword.

Without an order Ren, Ruby, and Nora began firing into the creature's open mouth. It roared in pain and gave a hard tug on its rabbit tongue, splitting it in half. Its cheeks puffed up and it spit a huge glob of acid in their direction, causing them all to back up while the Grimm hissed in pain.

 _I've never seen a Grimm like this before._ Ren turned to Jaune.

"Have you ever heard of this type of Grimm before?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow "Why of course Ren! Its the rare rabbit-tonged Hipity Hop, how could I ever forget such a fine specimen."

Ren noticed a bead of sweat, and a nervous glimmer in Jaune's eyes accompanying his snarky answer, but chose not to comment.

"Any suggestions?"

Before Jaune could reply the frog-like Grimm launched itself at them with its back legs, paws extended to impale them on its claws.

They each dove a different direction. When they came up, Jaune started shouting orders.

"Ren, draw its attention from the front. Ruby, if you see an opening, cut off the tongue. And keep fire on the legs, there's no armor there. Nora, I'm going to try and clear some of the spines off of its back, help Ren distract, but if you see an opening to cripple it, warn me and smash this thing to paste."

The others nodded. Ren and Nora dove in front of the creature and drew its attention while Ruby jumped up into the trees and took aim. Ren immediately opened fire on the Grimm's face, drawing its attention away from the others. He watched Jaune circle behind the creature and hack at the spines, drawing a roar from the creature.

Nora took the opportunity to launch several grenades down the creature's throat. It stood up to swipe at them, exposing its unarmored throat and stomach.

"Ruby take off the head!" Jaune shouted, diving in alongside Ren to slash at the stomach.

Ren heard Crescent Rose discharge above his head twice before he heard the Grimm's head hit the ground behind them. He and Jaune stepped to either side as the body fell onto the head. Ren breathed a sigh of relief as they collected their packs and set out. He looked up, noting that they had lost a lot of time collecting themselves.

"We should get moving, we are going to want to find a better shelter tonight in case there are any more of those things around here."

The others nodded their agreement, still shaken by the strange Grimm, as they continued their trek.

* * *

As they sat around the campfire eating, Ruby turned to Jaune and asked him a question that had been bugging her.

"Hey Jaune, who is Amber?"

Jaune paused eating and cocked and eyebrow at her. "Why do you want to know?"

Ruby played with her stew trying to find the right words.

"Who is she to you? You almost attacked Emerald when she mentioned her, and the doctor from Dorrmy made it sound like it was just you and Amber traveling together."

Ren spoke up. "I've been curious myself as to why you attacked Emerald, and what you knew of them."

Ruby watched Jaune place his food down and look up at the stars just starting to poke out of the darkness. There was a moment of silence before he answered them.

"When I was a kid my village of Ansle was attacked by a large Grimm hoard. All seven of my older sisters were trained so they went out to fight with my mom and dad. The village just barely survived the attack, but my family didn't. My father's last act was to give me Crocea Mors and tell me to run."

 _Ansle...the fly by village._ "That's why you marked Ansle as a fly by."

Jaune nodded and looked down into in the fire. "After the attack Cinder rescued me and whisked me away. I traveled with her for a year or two and her sponsor thought fit to gift me a weapon. I hadn't really used Crocea before in combat so I was fine with having my own. Shortly after we found Emerald using her illusions to hustle people, and Cinder convinced her to join us. We were ordered by her sponsor to find Marcus Black, an assassin. When we arrived, we found his house burning down and an injured Mercury walking away from his father's corpse. The four of us traveled together doing jobs for Cinder's boss until about a year before Beacon. I became disillusioned with our methods and goals and wanted out.

I lost my weapons on a mission but I still had Crocea Mors. So I left, and ran right into a hoard of Grimm. With no training and my current weapon, I thought for sure I was going to die. Then out of nowhere Qrow lands in front of me and starts tearing through the hoard. Then a column of fire melted through the rest of the Grimm. I watched my two saviors start arguing over 'cheating' and I tried to slip away. Suddenly there was a brown haired woman in front of me asking where I came from and if I was alright. I told them everything and Amber asked me if I wanted to travel with her."

"How did you get into Beacon then if you never went to combat school?" Ren asked.

Jaune smiled at that. "It was Qrow's doing actually. He gave me a set of fake transcripts and said if I wanted to be a hero so bad I should go. He's probably the reason Ozpin let me in too."

"So if this Amber is a fire slinging bad ass then where is she now?" Nora asked.

Ruby watched Jaune close his eyes. She knew the answer but she asked anyway.

"Jaune is she okay?"

He looked up at Ruby, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"She was injured by Cinder shortly after we parted ways. Then Cinder killed her during the Fall, only a few minutes before she killed Pyrrha."

 _Oh Jaune._ Ruby got up and sat next to him wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Jaune put an arm around her.

"It's okay Rubes you had no way of knowing."

Nora sat on Jaune's other side to hug him.

Ruby watched Ren and Nora share a pained glance. _I guess we all understand losing someone important._

* * *

Jaune sat at his watch that night still shaken by the fight earlier. He had of course recognized the Grim they fought he just never thought he would see one in the flesh. _After all who expects their mother to turn a childhood drawing into an actual Grimm._ Jaune mused. He shook his head as he walked around the perimeter of their little camp. Jaune reached in the pocket of his sweatshirt as he sat back down and pulled out an old photo. He looked down at the smiling face of Cinder, holding his hand as she watched Mercury hanging off Jaune and Emerald's shoulders. It was just a silly photo they took years ago now, but even after everything he had learned and what had happened it was still one of Jaune's prized possessions. _I wish I could tell my friends the truth but a half truth will have to do. I don't think they would look at me the same._

Jaune was snapped out of his musings by the sound of Ruby tossing and turning. He glanced back and heard her whimper in her sleep. {Another nightmare. Seems we all get them more often after Beacon.} Jaune got up and walked over to Ruby. As he reached down to touch her shoulder Ruby let out a wail. Her eyes snapped open and sliver light shot up into Jaune's face.

"No!" She screamed.

As he was thrown back, Jaune felt something deep in his aura scream at the contact before his aura broke and his skin began to burn. Jaune pressed forward anyway, holding his arms in front of his face as he felt that piece of his core still screaming in agony. Jaune removed his arms from his face and dove forward, grabbing Ruby in a hug and placing a hand over her eyes. He saw Ren and Nora getting up out the corner of his eye as he whispered in Ruby's ear.

"It's okay Rubes, I'm right here. It was just a nightmare."

Jaune turned to Ren and Nora.

"It was just a nightmare guys, I got this."

Ren raised an eyebrow but complied anyway. Jaune felt Ruby relax into the hug, and her eyes stopped burning his hand. Silence reigned for a moment before Ruby spoke.

"Jaune?"

"Yes Ruby."

"Why are you covering my eyes?"

Jaune took his hand off Ruby's face and let go of the hug to sit next to her.

"Your eyes started glowing because of a nightmare."

Ruby tilted her head at him. "What do you mean my eyes were glowing?"

"It's the same thing you did to Cinder and the Dragon atop the tower."

Ruby looked away from Jaune.

"I don't remember anything that happened after Pyrrha."

Jaune sighed, "You know what happened at the top of the tower wasn't your fault right?"

Ruby whipped back around. "How could you say that!? You trusted me to save Pyrrha and...I wasn't fast enough."

Jaune sighed again and ran his hand through his hair.

"What happened that night was a lot of people's faults. But Penny's and Pyrrha's deaths, the Fall, all the blame rests on Cinder's shoulders." _And mine_ "You have nothing to be sorry for, Pyrrha chose to climb that tower knowing she most likely wouldn't come back. It's Cinder's fault for dealing the final blow, it's Pyrrha's fault for even trying to fight her, and it's my fault for not stopping her or helping her. I wasn't strong enough...She didn't think I was strong enough."

Ruby pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her head in her knees. Jaune reached a hand out to rub her shoulders and back to comfort her. They sat there quietly for a few minutes before Ruby looked up at the stars and spoke.

"I miss them a lot. I miss Pyrrha, I miss Penny, I miss my team. I know that I'm never going to see Pyrrha or Penny again, and I'm afraid I may never see Blake or Weiss again. Yang isn't in a good place after Beacon and she's not recovering any time soon."

 _Are any of us in a good place Rubes?_

Jaune looked up at the stars and smiled before responding. "I'm sure you're going to see your team back together sooner than you think. Something tells me they just have to walk their own paths for a bit before we can meet them again."

"How are you okay with what happened. How can you just try to take the blame like it doesn't matter?"

 _Because I'm more responsible than you know._

"I should have done more to stop them, and I should have recognized the signs from your stories sooner."

Ruby opened her mouth to protest but Jaune cut her off. "Don't worry about it now, the past is the past. We have to learn from it and look to the future, now let's just watch the stars."

Ruby lay back down with a huff and Jaune sat next to her, gazing up into the sky, waiting for his friend to fall back asleep.

* * *

Yang looked up at the stars from her porch. It was a beautifully clear night, but Yang's mind wasn't on the stars. It was on her sister's quest across the world and who she was traveling with.

Jaune Arc, the 'Prince of Darkness' and the son of someone named Salem, that is if her mother was to be believed. _Yeah that sounds like a title that lovable dork would pick. Still though, I gotta wonder if any of us even really know Jaune at all. He was acting kind of strange in the final days of Beacon._ Yang's thoughts were interrupted by a stab of pain where her right arm used to be. She grabbed her stump and started taking deep breaths in and out to calm her heart. She closed her eyes to concentrate, but she saw a flash of glowing red hair and the pain intensified for brief moment. Yang jumped up from her seat and moved to ready Ember Silica out of habit, only to realize she wasn't wearing her left gauntlet and no longer had her right.

Yang shook her head and went back inside the house. _Tomorrow I'm going to get the Doc to clear me so I can use Signal's facilities and get back in shape. Then I can ask my dad if Ironwood still owes him any favors. If Jaune is right about things getting worse then I need to be ready._

The Next Day

Yang sat on the waist high bed in a small corner room of Patch's hospital. She was waiting for the doctor's verdict on her bill of health while her father was out in the lobby. Yang looked up as the door opened and the doctor walked in, clipboard in hand. He smiled at her.

"Well Miss Xiao Long, it would seem you're in perfect health. Your aura has mended your injury nicely and if you choose to get a prosthetic attached there should be no complications."

"So I'm good to go back to my training?" Yang asked, hopefully.

The doctor's smile faded and he sat down on a small chair placing his clipboard on the counter.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible just yet."

"Why not?"

"You have to understand there is a procedure. You are a huntress in training who was injured in the line of duty, during an event that has shaken everyone to their core no less. I'm afraid you still have to be cleared by a psychiatrist before you can return to your studies."

Yang clenched her fist, closed her eyes, and forced herself to calm down. "How many sessions will it take?"

The doctor handed her a business card with an appointment time written on the back.

"That will all depend on your first visit. You can cancel the appointment if you don't want to jump right in. I have already set an appointment with doctor Letlier for this evening on your behalf. This is mandatory though, you are not to return to active duty until you are cleared."

Yang looked at the small simple card in her hand. The doctor's name and title were printed in thin elegant black letters. The doctor stood up and opened the door for her.

"I wish you the best of luck Miss Xiao Long."

Yang pocketed the card and held out her left hand to shake the doctor's.

"Thank you Doc."

She walked out with the doctor who handed her father a copy of the medical report, the name of the psychiatrist, and the time of her appointment that afternoon. The father daughter duo were silent for their walk home.

Yang heard her father prepping lunch in the kitchen while she sat down on the couch and picked up the remote and turning on the TV. "The City of Vale has been declared safe once more. The invading Grimm have all been cleared out and the wall repairs are well underway. Over the last few weeks, students visiting for the Vytal festival have been sent home with only the senior teams remaining to help defend the walls and get Beacon back on its feet.

"In other news, technicians from Atlas have begun the groundwork on a temporary CCT tower that will enable communication between kingdoms, but emergency failsafes will still be used for all other functions until the Beacon tower can be repaired. We go now to the ground work foundation site to talk specifics with the Atlas technicians-"

Yang shut off the TV. _It's good that everyone will be able to talk again soon. I can talk to Ruby if she's in range of a tower._ Yang was broken out of her thoughts by her father.

"It's good James prioritized getting the network back up, then people can start talking again. The only thing that worries me is what they will say."

"What do you mean dad?"

Taiyang sighed before continuing. "You were in the thick of things so you know how it really went down, but from the outside things looked bad on a lot of people kiddo. Someone was killed who turned out to be an infiltration android, then the last thing the world sees is Atlas robots turning on civilians as Grimm are carried over the wall in airships. I'm worried the that accusations will start flying and it will devolve into an argument."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Tai broke the silence.

"Anyway, lunch is ready. You should really eat something before your appointment in few hours."

* * *

Yang stood outside the psychiatrist's office, unsure if she wanted to go in. She reached for the doorknob and hesitated. _What if he doesn't think I'm fit to return to duty?_ Yang took a deep breath. _No, it doesn't matter. Nothing is going to stop me from helping my sister._ She turned the doorknob and stepped into the doctor's office.

"Ah Miss Xiao Long, Welcome."

The doctor stood up and held out a left hand for Yang to shake. She gave the man a once over. He was tall and unassuming, dressed in black pants, with a tweed jacket over a purple dress shirt. Streaks of gray ran from his temples into his hair. Yang smiled at the man.

"Nice to meet you doc Doc."

He smiled and motioned for Yang to sit in the chair across from him. He picked up a large notebook and a pen before introducing himself.

"My name is Doctor Letlier, I will be evaluating your mental health before you can return to active duty. Please note that should you return to duty without completing our Kingdom mandated sessions, you could face a permanent suspension of your license and, depending on your actions, you could face jail time in high security prison. Do you understand?"

Yang nodded, "Okay I get it Doc, I'm ready whenever you are."

Let smiled and clicked his pen. "Then let us start off simple. Why did you chose to become a huntress?"

 _That was Oobleck's question too._ Yang paused for a moment to consider her answer. She remembered the conversation she had with Blake and Weiss about their answers.

"It's funny you should ask that question Doc, last person to ask me that was one of my teachers at beacon."

Letlier smiled. "Yes I was given Dr. Oobleck's notes by the man himself when he sent a letter inquiring if I would be taking your case. He wanted the process to go as quick as possible and offered to retrieve whatever I felt I needed from Beacon to make this process faster and easier."

Yang blinked, she was touched by her teacher's concern for her wellbeing.

"Well than you know I originally said it was because I was a thrill seeker, but that isn't necessarily the whole reason."

The doctor made a few scribbles before waving her on and Yang continued.

"I've always been one to go with the flow, let adventure find me and take me where ever, and getting to help people along the way was just a bonus."

The doctor leaned in. "I'm sensing a but, Miss Xiao Long."

Yang nodded, "But after Beacon things changed. My partner left, I lost a friend, and now my sister is half way across the continent without me trying to find answers as to why it happened. I told her that sometimes bad things just happen. I've had a lot of time to think about Beacon and that conversation, and I've come to the conclusion that it's our duty to make sure that good things can happen too. Bad things will still just happen sometimes but that doesn't mean we should do nothing about them, we need to stop them or make them better in any way possible. If that means helping villages, slaying monsters, or tracking down bad people then I'm in."

Yang took a breath as the doctor continued writing her answer and making small notes.

"So you would say that before you sought only the adventure of the job, but now you understand the duties that come with it?"

Yang remembered Blake's words, _There's too much wrong with the world to just sit around and do nothing, someone has to do something._ She nodded.

"I learned from a friend that there's a lot wrong in this world, it's the duty of a huntress to defend the people from evil in all its forms."

The therapist smiled at her. "Good Miss Xiao Long, now would you say your original answer was at all inspired by the disappearance of your mother?"

Yang tightened her fist but tried to keep her voice level. "You mean when she abandoned me? Maybe it was, but not anymore."

Yang watched the doctor put down his notebook before leaning forward and asking another question.

"Do you know what gifts are within the context of a semblance?"

Yang was confused by the question. _What does he mean by 'gifts'?_

The doctor continued, "A gift can be considered a second facet of a semblance. As you grow older and change your semblance somewhat changes with you. Take your sister for example, most speedsters throughout the ages have been reported to have abnormally high metabolisms, or healing, and possibly accelerated brain function because of their semblance."

"So it's an extra ability that complements a semblance?"

"Correct, I believe you were to learn about them in your second year. Regardless, my semblance lets me induce and shift emotions. For some patients I hypnotize them, then have them call up bad memories. I can use my semblance to remove their fear or guilt. Along the way I developed low level empathy, do you know what that means?"

 _Great he's an empath._ "You can read emotions, so I can't hide any emotions from you."

"Correct, so please express how you feel in our sessions regardless of how impatient I feel you getting. You won't be going back into the field until I say so."

"Okay."

Before the doctor could reply there was a beeping sound from his scroll. He pulled it out and looked at it before standing up.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, it's been a pleasure Miss Xiao Long. Same time in, let's say, two days? Will every two days work for you?" He asked, hand outstretched.

Yang stood up and took his hand. "Of course Doc."

Yang walked out of the doctor's office to find her father already waiting. He smiled at her.

"How did it go?"

"I'll tell you on the way dad."

* * *

Weiss rolled to the left to avoid the flare fired at her back. As it slammed into the training room floor, she turned to the AK-900's behind her. Weiss spotted one with a rocket launcher on one arm and shield, one with a standard issue service rifle. The remaining two had a pair of gauntlets, and two blade arms respectively.

Weiss threw up a glyph in front of herself as a rocket droid launched another round at her.

The one with a service rifle raised its weapon and began firing as the brawler charged at her. Weiss switched to her rapier dust and launched a dust attack at the rifleman. As the projectile threw the robot back she switched to ice dust and started running forward to meet the brawler. When they were about two feet from one other Weiss slammed the point of her sword in the ground, creating a sheet of ice under the brawler's feet. Its momentum carried it forward, impaling the robot's power core on the point of her rapier.

Weiss let the 'corpse' fall to the ground with a satisfied smirk. She heard a low whistle and turned but she was too slow to deflect the incoming rocket. It slammed into her side, sending her flying. Weiss managed to keep her grip on her sword but was dazed. She could vaguely see the sword bot closing in and rocket bot reloading. Weiss shook her and slipped into a guard position. The knight slashed at her with surprising strength for its small frame, sending Weiss skidding back. It followed up with an upward slash into her guard with its right blade, knocking her rapier in the air, and stabbing its left sword forward. As Weiss danced back, her scroll rang out. She stopped and pulled out the device.

"Combat scenario pause." She announced to the droids.

The AK-900's movements ceased immediately, its blade stopping inches from Weiss's chest as she looked at her scroll. It was a message from General Ironwood's secretary saying she was all set for her noon appointment with the general tomorrow. _I'll get you what help I can, then I'll meet you guys in Mistral._ Weiss thought with a smile as she turned back to the droids and announced.

"Resume scenario."

Weiss spun to the left, switching her sword to fire dust and setting the dispersion to maximum as the droid resumed its movements. With her back now to the bot, Weiss confidently spun her rapier and stabbed the bot in the chest. Hitting the dust dispersion a moment later made her sword glow a bright reddish hue as it melted a hole through the bot's chest.

Weiss turned around and summoned a glyph to block an incoming rocket as she faced the final droid. With a confident smirk, Weiss switched to ice dust and prepared two projectile glyphs on either side of her. Before she could finish off the remaining AK-900 a voice rang out behind her.

"End combat scenario."

Weiss dispelled her glyphs and turned to face her father. He was standing in the doorway of the training room in his white suit, arms behind his back looking quite displeased.

 _When does he look anything but displeased._ Weiss thought as she sheathed her rapier and curtsied to her father before greeting him.

"Hello father, what can I do for you?"

Her father was silent for a moment, eyes tracing the carnage Weiss had wrought before he spoke.

"You can start by cleaning up your mess and hanging up that weapon, you will have no need of it anymore." Her father said, coldly.

Weiss blinked at the coldness in her father's tone. "But father, I need to keep my skills up if..."

"I said hang up your sword. I have indulged your foolish dreams for too long." Her father barked, cutting her off.

Weiss blinked as her father collected himself. _He never yells at me._ Weiss didn't know what was worse, the cold lectures or his anger.

"Now you will put that silly thing away and go find a more formal dress. We will be hosting a fundraiser for the Vale relief effort in a few days and I expect you to sing."

"Father I don't think I'll be up to singing." _It just gives you another excuse to show me off._

Weiss looked into her father's cold eyes as he spoke, slipping back into the cold voice of her childhood.

"That wasn't a request, you are a Schnee and you have an image to uphold."

"You mean you have an image to uphold."

Her father's eyes narrowed. "What was that?"

Weiss sighed and closed her eyes. "Yes father."

"Good, now go put that toy away, you have no use for such things."

Weiss left the room without acknowledging her father anymore. She climbed the stairs just outside the door and walked the hall to her little tower. Her safe place away from her father and her brainwashed brother. Alone, the only place she could feel safe and find any peace.

Weiss sighed as she slid her weapon's case under her bed and moved over to her desk to sit down. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a photo of her team. It brought a smile to Weiss's face to see her teammates. Yang dragging them in for a group hug despite Weiss's clear protest. Ruby was laughing with her sister and Blake had a small rare smile on her face.

 _I miss them. I hope Blake had the courage to stay._

Weiss wasn't a fool, she knew the Fang had a part in the attack, and she knew that Adam Taurus was there. Judging by Blake's remorse and Yang's injury, it didn't take a genius to guess that Adam was the mentor that Blake spoke about in Mountain Glen.

 _Knowing Blake, she probably blames herself for the Fang's involvement, and for Yang's injury._

Weiss looked out her window at the setting sun. She knew Ruby would be fine with the remainder of JNPR, but she was worried about Yang and Blake. They were both strong and skilled in their own right, but she feared that if Blake had run, their relationship may be permanently damaged.

 _Even if she ran away again, I hope Blake's okay, and I hope Yang gets back on her feet._

Weiss shook her head and began preparing for bed. After all, she had to convince a General to send specialists into a foreign kingdom that had historically rocky relations with Atlas.

 _Tomorrow may be harder than I thought._ Weiss mused as she climbed into her bed.

* * *

Blake closed the door to her cabin and walked out onto the empty deck of the ship. She could see the coast of Sanus off to the left past the bow of the ship and to her right calm waters mirroring the heavens above. _It's so peaceful, so beautiful._ Blake leaned on the railing of the ship and gazed out over the ocean. She began wondering if she made the right choice to go home instead of staying. _Maybe Jaune was right, maybe Yang needs me. If she doesn't hate me for what Adam did then she probably does now._ Blake stood out there, staring at the stars before she was interrupted by another voice.

"Can't sleep?"

Blake turned to see Sun standing in the door of his cabin. She stayed silent and turned back to the stars.

"Yeah me neither." He said, walking over and leaning on the rail next to her.

"Sun?"

"Yeah Blake."

"Do you think I should have stayed in Vale with Ruby and Yang?"

Sun paused, considering his answer.

"After what happened I would say yes, the best course of action would have been to stay. With Yang's injury and Weiss's forced removal, they both could have used you there."

Blake closed her eyes. _No matter what I do, I'm always hurting someone._ She felt a hand on her shoulder. Blake opened her eyes to see a sympathetic Sun.

"I get that you feel responsible for what happened to your partner, and the Fang's role in Beacon. I get that, I'm not saying you made the wrong choice going for a tactical retreat when the Fang most likely has a target on your back. I'm saying the best case would have been if you stayed."

"People get hurt around me Sun. Whether it's by my hand, or because of my past actions, people always get hurt. I don't want to be responsible for any more of that."

Sun smiled at her.

"That's fine, it's your decision if you want to avoid your friends and hate yourself. Just like it's my decision to stay with you anyway to watch your back."

"Sun..."

"I'm not leaving your side until you've forgiven yourself and are ready to move forward. I think you underestimate just how tough your friends are." He finished with a grin.

 _I don't deserve someone like you._ Blake thought as she smiled back, bid Sun a goodnight, and returned to her cabin. As she lay back down, her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she'd just had. _Forgive myself huh? I don't think it will be that easy._

* * *

Dr. Letlier was packing up his notes for the night when his scroll began to chime in his pocket. _That's odd, the tower shouldn't be repaired yet. Must be local._ He pulled his scroll out only to see a stylized W on his screen, he answered immediately.

"Doctor Watts, what a pleasant surprise. How are you contacting me from all the way in Mantel?"

There was a pause on the other side.

"High frequency radio waves bounced off the CCT network, it's a little barbaric but it works."

The doctor sat in his desk chair. "I see, I take it this isn't a social call then? Does your protege need my services?"

"No this isn't about Mr. Arc directly. I heard from one of my contacts that Taiyang Xiao Long stopped by earlier with his daughter, is that correct?"

"Yes, Yang Xiao Long. I've gone over her records and they're quite impressive. Give her a few years and she'll be able to match her mother, and that's without her developing any gifts from her semblance."

"Yes, well we can't have that. I need you to sabotage her recovery. Mr. Arc and Ozpin cannot be allowed to gain any more powerful pieces. As it is, Mr. Arc and Miss Rose are bearing down on Mistral, which will make our efforts there hard enough."

"Summer's daughter is with Jaune? Shame she got mixed up with him, she seems like a nice kid from what I've heard."

"She is her mother's daughter. Now I need you to be subtle about your manipulations. We need Raven for Mistral to work and having her daughter there will complicate things. Just don't scramble her, the lady may have some use of her later and you wouldn't want to incur the wrath of Raven."

Doctor Letlier shuddered at the thought.

"I'll take care of things here Watts. Talk to you soon."

The doctor hung up before Watts could respond. He sighed, running a hand through his graying hair. He pulled open his desk drawer and took out a bottle of ice dust infused vodka. Ironically, it was a gift from Qrow Branwen for helping Taiyang and now he was about to twist the mind of Qrow's niece. _Ain't that a way to show your appreciation for a gift._ The doctor sighed again as he poured a shot. _Not that I don't enjoy twisting people's minds and emotions like putty, but messing with Raven's kid. I hope she doesn't find out or else I'm dead._ He tapped the glass on the table twice and downed the shot. He cleaned out the glass and returned it to his desk, grabbed his briefcase, and headed for the door.

As he locked the front door and began his short walk home, he pondered the best ways to break the young Xiao Long. _She has clear dislike of her mother, perhaps some abandonment issues._ He paused a moment. _Her partner did abandon her to after her injury. Even if she doesn't possess abandonment issues I can definitely induce them. I will have to interrogate her father and fish for more information before I start though._ The doctor smiled as he opened the door to his home. _Oh yes this may be fun after all._

* * *

 **Well that was a bit of a sinister ending. The next chapter will feature more Weiss, and check in with Blake and Sun one last time before we let Blake and Sun follow canon for a little bit. I liked Blake's return home arc, I don't want to screw with that, so next chapter is the last we will see of the Monkey and the Cat until the battle of Mistral. For those of you wondering, yes, the next chapter will have Blake explain what happened at Camp Araminic, so look forward to more morally gray Jaune and better descriptions of his old weapons. Will Yang make it off Patch as the same brawler we know and love? And just what did the dear Doctor do to Jaune? As always, I hope you enjoy the story, and feel free to leave a review.**


	5. Sins of the Past

Wayward Son Chapter 5: Sins of the Past

RWBY is owned by Rooter Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

Blake was roaming the ship when she turned a corner onto the main deck only to see Sun practicing with his weapon. He was Taking heavy swings with his staff and switching to his nun-chucks. Downward swing with the upper half, back up with the lower half of his weapon. Left swing, right swing, switch the weapon to nun-chunk form. Blake leaned on the wall and watched him rinse and repeat a few minutes before he finally put his weapons away and turned to her.

"Enjoying the view?"

"No I was just enjoying a walk around the ship when I was distracted by some glare."

Sun flashed her a grin.

"A rather dashing glare right?"

Blake shook her head at his antics.

"Are you expecting a fight?" She asked, pointing at his weapons.

Sun looked down at his nun-chucks.

"Not one on Menagerie, but the one that comes after."

Blake blinked. _Jaune's call for help._

"You're talking about the letters aren't you?"

Sun nodded.

"He's going to need our help someday soon and I want to be ready when that time comes."

"Then why did you follow me?"

Sun smiled at her as he walked over and leaned on the railing next to her. "Because you need my help too. Jaune already has someone to watch his back, you don't. Plus he strikes me as the guy to place friends above all else so he'll probably understand."

Blake smiled. "Well he did put on a dress to make his partner feel better."

The two shared a laugh at the memory of team JNPR's dance. Sun seemed to consider his words before he spoke.

"I've been meaning to ask you how you met Jaune? I figure he wouldn't have sent you a letter if he didn't know something no one else in Beacon knew."

Blake was silent for a moment as she looked out over the ocean. _Camp Araminic._

"I met Jaune on a mission for the Fang. Adam told me that Jaune was working for a group of humans that were interested in helping us. Adam introduced me to one of their agents who would be joining me in a mission to extract some of our members from a labor camp. Though Jaune introduced himself as John."

"Did the mission go okay?"

"No. We got everyone out, but not without bloodshed."

* * *

 _Blake scanned the perimeter of the camp looking for a gap in the guard movements by the barracks. She was interrupted by a short cough from her right. She turned to her temporary companion. A human dressed in a black armored coat with a blood red trim and a hood. He also wore plated black jeans and a black mask styled to match a knight's helm._

 _"What do you want John, I'm trying to memorize the pattern near the barracks."_

 _"I would like to propose an alternate plan to sneaking an entire camp past the guards." John paused for a moment and Blake waved him on. "I propose we remove the option of the alarm being raised altogether. That way the guards can be removed without worry of alerting the military."_

 _Blake raised an eyebrow. "How?"_

 _John inclined his head before producing a black cased scroll from his pocket. "If we can slip this into one of the communication tower's terminals it will lock down all communication not from this scroll. No reinforcements, no check in. We will have a nice window of time to remove some of the opposition and get everyone out without the guards being able to coordinate against us or raise alarm."_

That would certainly give us an edge. _Blake nodded at John. "If you can handle the infiltration of the tower, I'll keep looking for the best window of escape."_

* * *

"The plan was solid, knock out communication with the outside world and inside the base. We could just slip out and get a huge head start before anyone who could do anything about it knew."

"Did Jaune's scroll not wok?"

"No it worked, but Atlas was more prepared than we thought they were."

* * *

 _Blake stood next to John watching the line of solders advancing. It was only about twenty Atlas grunts, but they weren't what the two were worried about. No, it was the massive brute with a rocket hammer lumbering in front of the battalion that gave them pause. John spoke first._

 _"We need to stall these guys while the injured are being transported to the ship. I say about five to seven minutes to be safe."_

 _Blake looked over at her temporary partner and back at the troops sweeping the area for them. She looked at John._

 _"If you can keep the big guy occupied I can take out the battalion with the help of some of the soldiers we brought with us."_

 _John seemed to consider this before nodding and readying his weapons while Blake motioned over a few White Fang soldiers_

 _Blake turned to check on her companion and got her first good look at his weapons. He had a red gauntlet on his left arm with overlapping plates that looked twice the size of the rather normal looking gauntlet on his right. She saw a dust wheel on the underside of each and two dispersion nozzles poking out above the knuckles on both. What really caught her attention was the sword he held. It was a large double-edged bastard sword. It was made out of a beautiful black metal with silver trim. There was a rotating dust chamber in guard with the guard coming off the blade diagonally and curving back into the hilt._

 _As he checked the injection port on the blade, Blake notice a small black gem in the pommel of the weapon. The knight stood up and saluted her. "Try not to play with your food Kitty-Cat."_

 _Blake could feel the grin under his mask as he began sprinting towards cover. She noticed an odd red symbol on his back. It looked almost like an eye, but John was gone and behind cover before she could get a good look. Blake sighed as she pulled up her radio. "Bravo squad, Nightshade here."_

 _"Go ahead Nightshade."_

 _Blake jumped up to the roof of a nearby building before responding. "Black Knight and I need backup in the west courtyard. One, possibly two specialists and a squad of soldiers showed up to sweep for us."_

 _There was silence as Blake walked along the roof positioning herself above the slow-moving squad. She could see her temporary partner across the courtyard looking right at her, waiting for a signal._

 _"Nightshade, Bravo squad is in position. Awaiting your permission to go loud."_

 _Blake didn't hesitate issuing the order as she leapt off the roof. "Now."_

 _She landed silently behind the Atlas troops, slashing out at the backs of their knees with Gambol Shroud, as the men cried out in surprise. Blake shot them each in the shoulders and elbows before vanishing. The soldiers nearby were immediately on guard. Two moved to help their comrades while a third stood guard. Blake grinned down at them from her perch on the roof. **fools**_

 _She jumped, landing on the back of the soldier standing guard and slamming the blunt side of her sheath into the back of his head with three quick strikes knocking the man out cold. The men aiding their fellows barely had any time to react before Blake was upon the,m wrapping her weapon's ribbon around one of the men and throwing him into the other. She turned to check on her temporary companion and watched him take a rocket powered hammer to the chest and be sent through a small shack. Blake rolled her eyes at the sight. **That's karma for calling me Kitty-Cat.**_

 _Blake turned to check on the White Fang troops only to see a gauntlet rushing towards her face. Before she could react, Blake took the full force of the punch and then some as a shockwave blasted out of the gauntlet, sending her flying across the courtyard and through the outer wall of a shack._

 _Blake shook her head as she tried to stand, still dazed. **Okay, don't let that guy hit you again.** Her second set of ears twitched as she heard a soft thummn. She stabbed her blade into the floor right before what was left of the shack was violently torn up and thrown behind her._

 _Blake watched the approaching soldier carefully. **He doesn't look like a usual specialist. But he definitely has better equipment that the average grunt.**_

 _She saw the ridges of his right gauntlet glow a soft green, and heard another soft thummn. **He's charging his attack.** Blake rolled to the right, leaving a shadow clone to take the hit. The soldier turned to face her and Blake, switching to gun mode, began firing at his legs and arms."_

 _The bullets bounced off of his armor and the man rushed her, his gauntlets humming as they charged their next attack. Blake dodged one shockwave punch and deflected the other with her cleaver, going in for a slash at his side with her katana. The man pulled his arm close to his side, catching the strike on is gauntlet before pivoting on his left foot and slamming his elbow into her guard._

 _Blake dodged back, but this proved to be a mistake as the soldier slammed two charged gauntlets into the ground just before she landed. The shockwave tossed her back up in the air and gave Blake no time to dodge the incoming shock blast. Blake slammed into a wall, dazed. As the soldier got closer, he kept slamming her into the wall to keep her trapped. She could feel her aura dwindling with each hit she took. Blake threw her cleaver at him as a distraction and whipped Gambol Shroud forward, impaling it in the dirt to try and get some distance from the soldier. Key word being try._

 _Blake was sent skidding across the ground and lost her grip on her weapon after a surprise attack caught her in the side. She could feel her aura straining to prevent severe injury. Blake tried to get up but was kicked in the ribs by the soldier. He stood over her grinning as his gauntlets glowed that menacing green._

 _"You know it's been real fun, but I'm gonna have to kill you now kid."_

 _Blake flipped off the ground backwards. As she landed on the ground she felt both shock waves converge on her right leg. As her aura shattered, Blake felt a blinding white hot pain in her leg as she collapsed on her right side, crying out in agony._

 _"You know what they say, better safe than sorry."_

 _Blake felt a gauntlet slam into her left leg followed by a sickening crack. She held her scream in as she rolled onto her back, refusing to give him the pleasure. She slammed her left fist into the ground, wincing as glass shards cut her hand. **Wait..glass** The soldier grinned down at her, glee evident in his voice._

 _"I love it when they're fighters; it's more fun to watch the light drain from their eyes."_

 _As he tried to climb on top of her, reaching for her throat, Blake tightened her grip on the glass, bringing it up to slash at the soldier's throat. He leaned back, the glass only scratching his skin. In response, he grabbed her arm and broke it just above the elbow. Dropping her useless arm to the side, he put his knees on either side of her and began strangling her with both hands. She unsuccessfully tried to pry his hands off with her right hand. When her lungs began to burn, Blake tried fruitlessly to push the larger man off with her good hand. She reached up for his face to claw his eyes out, only for the soldier to lean back laughing at her attempts._

 _Blake's vision began to blur. There was black creeping in from the edge of her vision. Her broken arm lay useless at her side as she tried to push her attacker off. She could see John fighting the brute as her vision and more black pressed in. She saw the brute swing for a stunned John's head. With a loud crack, Blake watched John's form go flying while his sword landed near her._

 _Blake reached desperately for the handle of the sword while her attacker tightened his hold. She grasped the handle of the blade and thrust it blindly towards the man above her. Blake felt something hot and sticky splash her face, and she squeezed the handle of her borrowed weapon tighter. Blake could smell a faint burning as her attacker violently jerked back, letting her take a breath._

 _Blake gasped for air, tossing John's sword to the side as her vision returned to her. She turned her head to the soldier that had been strangling her only to see him clawing at his completely burned shut throat. John's blade lay on the ground next to him, still wreathed in flames._

 _Blake realized what had happened. **I cauterized his throat shut.**_

 _She turned her head and threw up as she felt him collapse to the ground next to her. Blake heard the thunderous footsteps of the brute as he stalked towards her. Blake attempted drag herself over to the katana half of Gambol Shroud that lay only a foot away. She collapsed in pain remembering her three broken limbs. The brute moved in her path)and grinned down at her as Blake look up at him._

 _"You know that's you animal's problem. You keep trying to talk peace' and 'do no harm' but when it comes down to it, your first instinct is to kill humans in the most savage way as possible. I gotta hand it to you, I ain't never seen someone slash open a throat and then cauterize the whole thing, color me impressed."_

 _He gestured at the soldier she had just killed. Blake glanced over at his crumpled body before glancing back at the man standing over her. Blake saw something moving up behind the giant as he raised his hammer._

 _"It only seems fair we return the favor."_

 _ **I'm sorry Adam.** Blake closed her eyes, waiting for the swing. She heard the hammer drop to the ground and opened her eyes to see John standing on the giant's shoulders, large ice spikes coming off his gauntlets into the large man's neck. The left half of his mask had cracked off, and Blake could see his mouth twisted into a snarl. John's one eye the soulless red of the Grimm, with a tiny rim of cobalt around his pupil. John snapped the ice spikes off as the giant collapsed to his knees. John stood behind him. He picked up the blade half of Gambol Shroud and, switching it to gun form, put four rounds into the back of the man's head. A savage grin replaced his snarl as the last two broke through his aura) sending the large man crashing to the ground._

 _ **Who the hell is he.**_

 _John turned to face Blake, her weapon still in his hand. She met his gaze head on for a moment before John shook his head and retrieved his weapon and the other half of her weapon. Blake pulled her broken left arm close to her chest as he handed her the gauntlets off the man she had killed. John gently picked her up and started walking towards their transport. Blake could feel the adrenaline wearing off and she was really tired and she hurt all over. She felt a warmth spread from John's hands into her body numbing the pain slightly._

 _"Shush, rest up you took quite a beating and you're going to need your strength."_

 _Blake looked up at John's face to see him smiling warmly down at her. As she drifted off clinging to the weapons of the man she killed, she noticed the red slowly fading from his eyes._

 _ **How strange.**_

* * *

Sun blinked at her. "He just stabbed him in the throat and shot him like it was nothing. That doesn't sound like the Jaune we met at Beacon."

Blake shook her head. "No he was nothing like that at Beacon. He could have just had really good cover or maybe he has changed that much in three years."

Sun didn't seem to believe her. He shook his head. "Maybe. We should still keep an eye on the guy in case he decides to go all red eyed psycho killer again."

Blake nodded, "I plan to keep my eye on him this time."

Sun shook his head and looked out into the distance. "Why did he take that soldier's gauntlets?"

Blake shrugged, "Most likely to reverse engineer and then weaponize it,. He was working for someone that killed Huntsman and wanted an alliance with the Fang to attack Vale."

"Well clearly he didn't give it to the Fang. I guess we'll just have to ask him some day."

Blake nodded, unsheathing her sword and readying her cleaver. "How about until that day we spar to keep or skills sharp?"

Sun grinned at the suggestion. "I'd be more than happy to help you stay in practice."

He returned his weapon to its bow staff form and got in his ready stance. Blake smiled as she slipped into her own stance.

* * *

Weiss approached the desk in the center of the small lobby. The receptionist looked up at her expectantly. Weiss spoke first.

"I have an appointment with General Ironwood."

There was a sound of tapping keys before Weiss got a response.

"Place your scroll in the dock for your temporary clearance codes Miss Schnee."

Weiss placed her scroll in the dock on the desk. There were a few more taps on the keyboard and a ding came from her scroll.

"Excellent, please remove your scroll and proceed to the main elevator. Take it to the top floor. Then when you get out, go straight down the main office corridor and swipe your scroll in front of hollo secretary's scanner. She will notify the general and unlock the doors for you."

Weiss inclined her head as she took her scroll. "Thank you, and have a wonderful day."

"You as well Miss Schnee."

Weiss followed the receptionist's directions to the staff offices. She could see Ironwood's office down the hall, his AI secretary looking at her expectantly from the end of the hall. Weiss couldn't help but doubt her own intentions. _Maybe he won't listen to me, and refuse to send any aid or warning to Mistral._ She squashed these negative thoughts as she walked calmly down the quiet hallway. _Even if he can't give Ruby and Jaune any direct aid to find the people responsible for the Fall, he should at least be willing to look into it and warn Mistrial of a potential threat._

Weiss pulled her scroll out as she approached the AI's desk.

"Please place your scroll in front of the scanner for identity confirmation and security clearance check."

Weiss compiled with the AI. She only had to wait a few moments before the reader beeped and flashed green giving her access.

Weiss opened the door and stepped into the general's office. Weiss was surprised by what she found. She was expecting a lavish office with expensive art and amenities. Instead she found an office that reminded her of Professor Ozpin's office. One wall was a giant reinforced window looking out over the residential district of the city. A clean mahogany desk sat at the center of the room with the front facing the door and two cushioned armchairs placed in front of the desk. On the left wall was a simple plush couch, and on the opposite side of the room on a small fridge sat a serving tray with a set of scotch glasses.

General Ironwood looked up and smiled at Weiss. He looked more haggard than she remembered him.

"Hello Miss Schnee, please take a seat." He greeted, gesturing to the armchairs.

Weiss sat down, and took one last look at the surprisingly simple and cozy office around her. She heard Ironwood chuckling and turned back to him.

"Not used to simple offices?"

Weiss nodded her head. "I guess I was expecting something more lavish, like my father's study, for someone of your position. It kind of reminds me of the simplicity of Ozpin's office, just a bit more cozy and less.." Weiss gestured to the ceiling. "Distracting machinery."

Ironwood smiled and gained a far-off look. "Oz always did like his clocks, used to say they soothed his soul." The general shook his head before addressing her again. "Now what can I do for you Miss Schnee?"

Weiss shifted nervously in her seat, looking for the right words. "My team leader and the remaining members of Team JNPR are chasing down a lead on the people who attacked Beacon."

Ironwood's smile drooped and his face became questioning. "How do they know that they are following the same people that carried out the attack?"

Weiss took a deep breath and pulled out Jaune's letter and handed it to Ironwood. "I received this letter from the leader of team JNPR. I believe Jaune has a history with these people."

Weiss hesitated and Ironwood looked up from the letter.

"What kind of history Miss Schnee?"

"I don't know but it's something bad. During the Vytal Festival, Jaune almost attacked a member of a foreign team on sight. Then he warned us to be careful of them. In his letter, he mentions failing to stop them. The timing isn't a coincidence."

Ironwood put down the letter and looked out his window.

"So are you telling me Mr. Arc knew that Beacon was going to be attacked and tried to stop it on his own. Yet he failed, and is now hunting the ones responsible with the help of fellow students instead of telling authorities where the suspects fled?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably in her seat before responding, "He may have thought you wouldn't listen to him without credible evidence, so he's taking it into his own hands until he can prove it to you. That's why I'm here. I was hoping you could send some aid to them in Mistral, or at least warn the kingdom of a possible threat."

The general sighed before turning back to face Weiss.

"Unfortunately, even warning them isn't that simple anymore. Before Beacon Tower was taken down the whole world watched Penny's revel and Atlas robots turn on civilians. Worse, they attacked Vale, our closest ally. I'm afraid the world doesn't trust Atlas anymore."

Ironwood sat down at his desk.

Weiss shook her head, "Surely they would still listen to a warning of a threat of this scale. Right?"

The general rubbed his face before responding, "Unfortunately with how tense things are, any message could be considered a threat, or outright ignored if the messengers even make it to Mistral. The best thing to do is wait until the temporary tower in Vale is up and have the Valeian council help us explain the situation to Mistral."

Weiss gripped the armrests of her chair before bursting out at Ironwood. "But that will take too long! The moment they realize that Jaune is in the kingdom they will act. My friends could be killed or the attack accelerated!"

Weiss realized that she had just shouted things the general probably already knew right in his face in a rather embarrassing outburst. Ironwood didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. He gazed down at his desk in thought. After a moment of silence, he looked back up at Weiss.

"I have a colleague who unofficially may be able to help your friends. Though if I know that dusty old crow he's already got an eye on them."

Weiss was confused for a moment about who Ironwood's friend could be until it clicked. _Ruby's uncle Qrow_. "You mean Qrow, the Huntsman that fought Winter in the Beacon courtyard?"

Ironwood smiled, "Qrow Branwen and I may not see eye to eye on many things, but he is a good man and an even better huntsman and a remarkable fighter even when drunk. I can assure you your friends will be in good hands if they aren't already, but that is all I can do for them."

Weiss inclined her head to the general. "Thank you for your time general but I need to return home and help my father prepare for a charity."

Ironwood stood up with Weiss and held out his hand for her to shake.

"It was a pleasure Miss Schnee, and should you need anything further feel free to contact my aide. She should be able to get you in touch with either me or your sister."

Weiss shook his hand before excusing herself and making her way out to her car. As she sat in the car, she couldn't help but ponder the meeting. _I guess it was foolish to think that I could convince the general to send troops to aid Mistrial, but he can't even send them a warning._ Weiss looked out the window at the people going about their days without a care in the world. They had no idea what had happened, and what was coming. Although that raised a troubling question for Weiss. _Jaune has all but confirmed that he knew that Beacon was going to fall and he said nothing to any of us. Even if he's working to stop them now, there is the very high possibility that he was in league with them. Can I trust him?_

Weiss was broken out of her thoughts by the car coming to a stopping outside the front door of her house.

"Thank you, that will be all for today." Weiss said to the driver, as she got out of the car and walked up the steps to the large doors of her family's mansion. Her father was waiting on the other side of the door for her.

Weiss stiffened before giving her father a curtsy and greeting him.

"Hello father."

Jacques inclined his head but didn't respond.

Weiss chose to continue despite her father's lack of response. "Was there something you needed from me father?"

Her father regarded her a moment before finally addressing her. "The fundraiser for Vale is approaching and you have yet to pick your dress or practice."

Weiss met her father's cold gaze head on. "I was browsing dresses today and I was unable to find one I liked."

"You were looking at dresses. Was that before or after you met with General Ironwood?"

Weiss's heart stopped. _How?_

"I told you that you won't be pursuing your delusion any further. I will not have all my hard work wasted because you wanted to fight monsters. Now it's time you grow up and focus on your responsibility. If you fail to find a dress, or choose a song in time, I shall pick both for you. Since you insist on acting like child you will be treated as such."

Before Weiss could respond her father turned and left, walking down the hall towards his study. _How did he find out?_ Fear gripped Weiss's heart. _Did he know why I was meeting with the general. Does he know about the letter?_

Weiss reached for the letter instinctively but pulled her hand away. She forced herself to calm down as she started climbing the main staircase on her way back to her tower.

 _Panicking won't get me anywhere. If he knew he would have said something or made some show of force._ She was still concerned about how much her father knew or worse, his reaction if she decided to leave or her friends busted her out.

Weiss knew it would be better if she ran away long before her friends showed up in Atlas. It would leave a less credible case for kidnapping. As Weiss opened the door to her room she tried to consider all of her options.

 _I can play along and run away immediately after the event, or I can try to slip away before the event._ Weiss shook her head. _No that won't be likely to succeed. My father will be watching me more than usual now. I'm just going to have to play along until a window of opportunity presents itself._ Weiss considered the possibility that there may be no window to take advantage of. She looked to the foot of her bed where her weapon sat and remembered the arm she managed to summon during the Fall. _I suppose I'll just have to practice so I can make my own way out._

She paused with her hands on the latch of the case and considered her Jaune problem again. _I should do some research on his branch of the Arc family, if only to know how a distant cousin of the famous family became involved with such people._

Weiss prepared to set out again, this time to find what documents she could on the Arc linage in the CCT archive and to grab a dress to satiate her father. As Weiss left her room she found Kline waiting outside.

"What do you need Kline?"

Kline bowed his head before responding. "Pardon the interruption my Lady but your father requests your aid in entertaining a guest from the Valeian council. He and his son are both here, apparently the young man attended Beacon before the attack."

"What is the guest's name?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. I was simply told that your presence was requested by our guest and to fetch you immediately."

"Very well. Thank you for notifying me of our guests."

Kline bowed. "A pleasure Madame."

Weiss inclined her head and began to make her way down to the parlor where her father liked to entertain guests. She pondered who it could be that would ask if she was available. _Perhaps it's some business man's son that I met in the hall, or he could not know me at all and just be looking for someone to talk to._ Weiss shook her head as she began to push open the doors of the parlor. She would find out soon enough.

Her father addressed her immediately, "Ah, there you are my dear. If you could be so kind as to give young Mister Winchester here a tour of the grounds? His father and I need to talk business."

Weiss froze as the words sank in. She was met with the sight of a haggard looking Cardin Winchester, standing there dressed in black pants and a maroon jacket with a light red vest and white button-up shirt. He was the picture perfect rich kid, besides his large frame, messy hair, and tired, haunted face.

His father stood next to her dad, dressed in an almost identical suit to his son, just with a russet colored jacket and a big smile on his face as he turned to greet her. But Weiss wasn't focused on him. Her eyes were locked onto Cardin's with a silent agreement passing between the two. They needed to talk, without their father's overhearing.

* * *

Jaune sat at a table in the local inn, The Gentlemanly Beowulf, waiting for his friends to finish their supply runs. He entered the inn to get information on the surrounding area, and agreed to meet his friends there.

Nora had commented that the top hat and monocle wearing mascot of the sign was adorable. She insisted that one day she would tame a Beowulf and put a top hat and monocle on him. _Only Nora._ Jaune thought, shaking his head with a smile on his face.

 _I'm not sure what to do about my return home. Someone is bound to recognize me and ask questions. More importantly, how long can I satisfy my friends with a half truth?_ His thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone approach. The stranger spoke first, surprising Jaune.

"Well it isn't every day you see the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness in a place like this."

Jaune was instantly put on alert by the elderly woman's statement. He reached for the remains of his knife before she spoke again.

"I mean you no harm, child of Arc. My name is Pythia." She said, calmly taking a seat across from him. Her hands were out in the open.

Jaune placed his own hands on the table, glancing around the nearly empty inn before questioning the woman.

"How do you know who I am?"

The old woman chuckled before her eyes glowed a bright green.

"I see and know many things child. I know that you are a champion of the darkness born in the light, and I know enough about people to see your soul struggling with the weight of your sins."

Jaune drummed his fingers on the table for a moment.

"I'm not the same man who committed those acts. I have no delusions about what I've helped do, but I plan to set things right."

Pythia cocked her head to the side. "You are wavering between the light and the dark. The more you seek the destruction of the willing minions of the darkness the more like them you become. Yet you bask in the light of your friends and try to call your revenge justice." She shook her head, "Justice, Little Knight, is done in the name of all that is right, in the name of those who have fallen to the dark, and all those who may still fall. Not out of spite for the dark because of all they have done to you. That is the way of the dark." She stood up and walked to the door, hand resting on the nob before she turned back to him. "A side must always be chosen Son of Arc, even if it's the wrong one. I want you to remember that when your sins come to bear." She finished leaving before Jaune could reply.

Jaune just sat there, pondering what the old woman had said. _Is she right? Am I really becoming like Cinder and my Mother?_ Jaune shook his head. _No, I'm getting revenge for the innocents they have killed, and for all the people they tricked me into killing._ He thought, nodding to himself, before sighing. _I'm not doing this for them though. I'm just putting a coat of brown and silver paint on a Knuckleve and calling it a knight on a horse._ He mused bitterly.

He looked up at the sound of the inn door opening to see the rest of his team walk in. Jaune smiled at them and waved them over.

As they sat down Jaune asked, "So we all.."

Jaune froze as he felt his aura react to something oddly familiar outside the inn. His aura felt like it was reaching for something, trying to grasp it and draw it in. _There's something out there._

He got up without a word and walked outside the inn. There was a woman in a green cloak approaching the tavern. She paused and looked at Jaune from under the hood. He could feel the tug on his aura directing him to the woman. Jaune heard his friends step out of the inn as he began questioning the stranger.

"Sorry to bother you, but may I ask who you are traveler?"

The woman didn't respond. She reached up and pulled off her hood.

"I am a lost warrior seeking justice for my clan, my village."

Jaune's eyes widened as he looked at the woman's fierce green eyes. Her long black hair framed a round face of Mistriallian descent. _Oh no_

Before Jaune could speak, Ren called out to the woman.

"Cousin Jade?"

Jade turned her gaze to Ren, a small smile playing across her features. "Hello Lie, it has been a long time. I believed myself the last, it is nice to know you survived the attack on your home."

Jaune glanced at Ren before turning back to address Jade. _This just got complicated_

"What is it you want Jade?" Jaune asked, dreading her answer.

A smile curled on Jade's lips as she cast off her cloak and drew a sword from her back, throwing it point down into the dirt between the two.

"Simple, deceiver, I want a fight to the death to avenge my family."

Jaune stared at the polished black blade, its silver edge gleaming in the sunlight. _Colère, my old friend._ He could feel his aura tugging him to the weapon, wanting to reunite with his old blade.

"You have a choice to make. Get down on your knees and die like a dog, or reclaim your weapon and die in battle with the last shred of your honor."

Jaune looked away from his old blade to look into Jade's eyes. Her green eyes burned with barely concealed hatred.

 _I suppose I don't have much choice do I?_ He mused, reaching down for Crocea Mor's sheath.

Jaune placed his shield on his left arm and hesitantly reaching out for his blade. He grasped the hilt and pulled the blade from the ground. Jaune settled into a combat stance and shuddered as he felt the depths of his soul resonate with Colère. He could remember all the blood that stained the blade. Jaune hated how right Colère felt in his hand.

* * *

Salem listened to Watts report on the current political situation in Mistral. Mistral was her son's current destination according to Tyrian's findings. Watts paused his report to check his scroll. Salem raised an eyebrow when Watts became nervous. He looked up at her before reporting in.

"My apologies my Lady, but I just received a transcript from our emergency communication system. Cinder and now Mercury are injured and in need of immediate medical attention."

She waved him on. "Go to them, I will expect a report after Cinder's recovery."

Watts bowed and left the room in a hurry. Tyrian turned towards her for his orders. As she prepared to speak Salem froze, feeling a long dormant extension of her power spring to life. She could feel her son's soul again, so far away but still connected. Salem smiled up at the broken moon. _So, my wayward son has reclaimed his weapon at last._

* * *

Ren stepped in front of his leader and held his hands up in front of his cousin.

"Perhaps we can come to a more peaceful solution. Jaune no longer works for the people who hurt our family. In fact, we are on a quest to stop them from felling another school, or worse, a kingdom."

Jade laughed at him.

"You are being tricked dear cousin. Don't feel bad, he was able to slip into my bed after all."

Ren, unfazed by his cousin's insinuation, went to continue but was stopped by his leader resting his hand on his shoulder. He turned to Jaune to see his cobalt eyes full of sadness.

"My sins are my own to pay for."

Ren and Jaune stared at each other for a moment longer before Ren inclined his head and moved to stand next to Nora and Ruby.

Jade smiled and motioned to a group of people behind her Ren had failed to notice. They fanned out around her and cleared a space for the dual, raising their weapons when Ruby reached for hers.

Ren turned to her and shook his head. "This is Jaune's fight alone."

Ruby begrudgingly removed her hand and the mysterious soldiers stood down.

Ren turned his attention back to his leader and his cousin who were now staring each other down. _I just hope he knows what he's doing._

* * *

Jaune watched as Jade drew forth two familiar red bracers, putting the thicker one on her left arm and the other on her right. He knew what they were even before Jade had activated them. _Aegis and Bruiser._ He gazed at the familiar gauntlets longingly before a dark voice tickled the back of his mind.

 ** _She has what is mine! I should kill her just for having the audacity to wear them, let alone use them against ME._**

Jaune shook his head as Jade drew twin single edged blades from her back. He tightened his grip on his old weapon and felt it hum in response to his anger. Jaune rotated his weapon's dust chamber to earth dust. He placed the tip of the blade on the ground, dragging it next to him as he circled Jade. Without warning he activated the release and dug the tip of the sword into the ground, pulling a chunk of earth behind his upward slash.

* * *

Qrow sat atop the sign of the Gentlemanly Beowulf in his avian form watching Jaune duel the stranger. He could recognize the outfits of the men surrounding the kids. _When did he have time to piss off the Yaza tribe? More importantly what are they doing this far out of their territory? They're supposed to be the Kings of the East._

Qrow was shaken from his thoughts by a mysterious woman across the square on another roof. He spotted her purple mask stylized after the face of a Mistrialian Oni. She was dressed in a black outfit accented by the same purple as her mask. _Just my luck._

* * *

 **You know I told myself I would avoid even weak cliffhangers like this but at the same time this is probably the cleanest way for me to wrap up this chapter. Don't worry I won't deprive you of a fight scene by interrupting the duel or skipping it, besides I think there is something poetic in Jaune not only fighting someone he has hurt in his past but that she is using his own weapons against him. Also to the anonymous viewer who hates the idea of someone messing with his brain as much as I do, I had many similar thoughts as I was coming up with the character. You can thank a suggestion post on the RWBY Amino about showing people with more mundane semblances for his inspiration. As I was writing I though hey maybe I can give him a semblance that would lend itself to being a therapist. Mind reading or memory manipulation would have been easy, but the thing about memory is we see it through the lens of emotion. Think of changing the emotional lens as changing the lighting in shot, It can alter the entire tone of your memories. This can obviously be great for helping people accept traumatic incidents as a kind person would do. Then I thought about a more sinister person who would want to twist the emotions and memories of people like an evil puppeteer making them dance for his amusement. Sorry this was a longer note than I meant and a slightly longer wait than I meant, I'm sorry that I missed the mark by a few days. I've been working two jobs this summer which has kicked my ass more than expected. On a side note, I never expected to reach 104 followers. I mean damn, I guess I underestimate just how many people view this site. I honestly expected maybe twenty people at best AFTER I got past at least where season five ended. So thank you guys for enjoying my story so far, even you my critical friend. As always feel free to leave a review and enjoy the story.**


	6. Ain't no Place Like Home

Wayward Son Chapter 6: Ain't no place like Home

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

Jaune sidestepped to the left as the earth chunk was shattered by a shockwave. Already rotating his sword to shock dust, he stepped in for a downward slash. His strike was intercepted by a thin single edged blade. Jaune noticed the dust thrower nozzle open and he drew back bringing his shield up to block the gout of flame. His heart started beating faster and Jaune could feel Colère humming in his hand. The electric thrill of battle flowed through his veins. Jaune grinned as the stream of fire died. He rushed towards his opponent, shield out in front of him with his sword behind him in a reverse grip.

Jade brought her right fist back, charging a shockwave blast only to meet open air. Jaune ducked low, sliding into Jade's guard and dragging his shock dust enhanced blade across her abdomen. Staying low, Jaune shield bashed the already stunned Jade, causing her to stumble back a few steps. Jaune shifted his sword to fire dust and held down the release as he slashed the air between them, launching an arc of fire at the dazed warrior. She recovered as Jaune's arc of fire approached and dove backwards, releasing streams of frost to block the flames.

Jaune could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the electric frenzy of fighting a worthy opponent flowing through him, driving him to its natural conclusion, the kill. He launched himself at his opponent, driving her back with powerful slashes and repeated blows with the face and edge of his shield. He slipped his shield into her guard and thrust the top up into Jade's chin, savagely snapping her head back. He then spun and delivered a strong blow to her chest with his sword, causing her aura to spark in warning. Separating the two and giving him time to his hand to his hip and grab his hunting knife in his left hand and conceal it along his arm.

Jade glared at the blond warrior with hatred before spinning her blades so the edges faced her. She pressed a button on the hilt of the twin blades, causing a zipper like pattern to appear on the back of each down to her hilt. The blades clicked together seamlessly, forming a double edged short sword. Jade spun the sword once before flaring her weak aura around the gauntlet on her left arm. The plates of her gauntlet slid forward, reinforcing the back of her hand and jutting out over the knuckles. A small round shield a foot in diameter unfolded from underneath where the plates had previously rested. She held the shield in front of herself level with her shoulders and brought her short sword up, tip pointing towards Jaune, taking a more defensive stance.

Jaune narrowed his eyes, sent another arc of fire at Jade's feet, and launched himself at Jade as she dodged to the left. Catching her stab on his larger shield, Jaune tried a sweeping slash at Jade's legs. She dipped her shield down to block but overextended, exposing her right side. Jaune pushed her off balance with his Shield and slammed the point down into Jade's right knee, before collapsing his shield revealing his knife and driving it into her abdomen, breaking her aura.

Jade gasped in pain and dropped to her knees. Jaune saw her try to bring her sword back up and he lashed out, slashing into her shoulder with his sword. She cried out, dropping her own sword. Jade looked up at Jaune, hatred burning in her eyes.

Jaune stuck his sword into the ground and clipped his shield to his waist. Reaching towards his defeated opponent he pulled off his old gauntlets and dropped them behind him. _**[Finally taking back what is mine]**_

Jaune allowed a grin to creep back onto his face as he pulled his sword out of the ground and raised the weapon over Jade's injured form. A tug in his aura told him to turn his head. Jaune flicked his gaze to his right and saw his team standing there. He could see the look of horror on their faces. Ren was as calm as ever but Jaune could see the disappointment in his eyes. Nora looked away, from sorrow written on her face. The worst was Ruby, her bright silver eyes were full of revulsion and dismay.

* * *

Ruby couldn't help but stare in horror at her friend. He stood there, a grin plastered on his face, while Ren's cousin sat behind him, injured and waiting to be executed. Ruby looked into Jaune's eyes. Her friend's usually bright cobalt eyes were almost completely overtaken by a soulless glowing red like the Grimm. A thin ring of cobalt was that was left of his irises. _I don't even recognize him_

After a few seconds, Jaune looked away from her. She watched him shake his head before planting his sword in the ground once again and walking over to Jade. He wretched the sheath for his blade off of her back, and strapped it on himself. Jaune slid Colère in place and picked up the gauntlets he pulled off of her earlier. He turned away from Jade and started walking towards them.

Jaune looked at her again, his eyes still soulless red. Ruby glanced away, still unable to get that grin out of her head. She was shaken out of her thoughts by the defeated Jade shouting out to Jaune.

"It's not over; I'm still alive." She panted, placing her hands on the ground and trying to lift herself up.

Ruby watched in shock as Jade dragged herself off the ground, a smear of blood marked her passage, and picked up her sword in her right hand. Jade held it at her side as she grabbed the broken knife and slowly pulled it out of her abdomen.

"This is fight to the death."

Ren stepped in between the two combatants with his hands up. "Jade, you are injured and in no condition to continue. Jaune has won this duel."

Jade shook her head and screamed, "NO! I will have my revenge!"

"Jade please be reasonable, Jaune was..." Ren was interrupted by half of Jade's men being flash frozen.

Ruby took advantage of the surprise to speed forward and disarm Jade, before turning to her friends and screaming, "Run!"

Jaune and the others scooped up their gear and followed after her as Ruby ran out of the village. Jade screaming screamed at her remaining men to follow them.

* * *

As Jaune ran down the trail, his team in front of him, he slipped Aegis and Bruiser onto his arms. The gauntlets clicked into place and Jaune wasted no time switching to ice dust and arming the projection nozzle.

"Nora!"

She turned to him as he threw her his pack.

"Keep going, I'll hold these guys off and we can regroup a few miles down the road."

Jaune turned and put his back to a tree, waiting for the sound of the approaching soldiers. He could hear their thunderous footsteps as they charged down the road. Jaune stepped out and sent two ice spikes at the closest bandit. One slammed into the man's left leg and the other pierced his chest as he cried out in pain.

The bandit next to him, unfazed by his friend's death, thrust his spear at Jaune's face. Jaune sidestepped and brought a shockwave punch down on the man's arm, breaking the limb. With a gasp the bandit released his grip and Jaune turned the spear and impaled the man. Jaune noticed a button on the metallic shaft and pressed it. The right side of the spear blade folded into the left and the shaft reshaped into a rifle with a small thick blade bayonet extending from below the barrel.

Jaune wasted no time. He removed the weapon from the corpse, dropped to one knee, took aim, and felled two more bandits with the high powered rifle. A red blur shot past him as he took aim at the last bandit. A giant red scythe expanded and slammed into the bandit, sending him flying into a tree. The tree shivered and loose leaves fluttered to the ground in the now silent clearing.

Ruby turned towards Jaune, glancing at the dead bandits eyes wide. She stood a little taller eyes narrowed as she turned to Jaune. "So this is what you did working for Cinder? You killed people?" She asked in an accusatory tone, her grip tightening on Crescent Rose.

Jaune chose not to answer, turning away from Ruby and moving towards the bandit corpses. He turned over the man whose spear he took and pulled off his holster and spare clips. Jaune ejected the near empty tubular magazine from the butt of the gun, reloaded the rifle before collapsing it back into a spear, and placed it in the holster. He strapped the holster on mechanically and moved on to the next bandit. He relieved the next bandit of her knife, replacing his. Jaune moved went from body to body, scavenging more ammo for the spear off of the remaining bandits. He ignored the burning stare of Ruby.

* * *

Ruby watched Jaune go over to each of the dead bandits and pick through their pockets, taking compatible ammo for his stolen weapon, money, spare knives, before he rolled them onto their backs, closed their eyes, and crossed their hands on their chests. She watched him the entire time, standing over the bandit she had incapacitated protectively. Jaune refused to meet her gaze as he approached her and reached for the unconscious man behind her. Ruby moved to block him holding Crescent Rose's blade low to the ground in preparation for an upward slash, forcing Jaune to look up at her. She could still see the tinge of red slowly fading out of the whites of his eyes.

"I just want to check him for supplies and disarm him. We don't have much time left before those guys thaw out and we need to get moving before Jade catches up to us." He, spoke in a monotone voice. As if this was all normal and expected.

Ruby stood her ground. Jaune went to say something but stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Go, through the trees." Jaune whispered to her as they moved off the road.

Ruby turned around and saw Jaune had stopped following her to crouch behind a tree. Ruby hid further behind him and carefully watched her friend.

Jaune waited in silence as Jade and her bandits slowly approached the scene of battle. She motioned for the bodies to be checked. Ruby watched as Jaune brought his stolen weapon up and rested it on the tree. Ruby looked back at the bandits as they came to the one she had knocked out. She watched as Jade signaled with a blood-stained hand for one of her men to wake the unconscious man.

The man sat up and shook his head, looking up. Ruby couldn't hear what the man said, but it clearly displeased Jade. The huntress watched Jade slash the man's throat out with Jaune's broken knife before she stumbled. Ruby recoiled in shock. The other bandits watched passively as their friend choked to death on his own blood.

Ruby watched Jaune ready his weapon and take aim at Jade, before the woman unexpectedly collapsed. Jade screamed her frustrations to the sky, while her men watched on.

Jaune sighed and collapsed his weapon, just watching as Jade broke down. After a time she picked herself up and signaled her men to carry their tribe mates. They retreated in the direction of the town.

Ruby moved away, following the road in the other direction through the woods looking for Ren and Nora. She left Jaune behind to watch the bandits.

* * *

Qrow stepped out of the woods and into the path of the stranger who had saved his charges. The woman froze, but made no move to reach for her weapon.

"That was a nice save freezing those bandits." He said, placing his hands in his pockets and slouching.

The woman said nothing, continuing to watch Qrow.

"Why are you following the kids? Do you serve the Queen?"

"I am no ally of Salem. I followed them from Vale after I learned of a… personal connection to one of them."

Qrow fingered his weapon. "That's not good enough."

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a small green item. She tossed it to Qrow. He caught it in his off hand and looked at it. It was a simple key cut from jade.

Qrow raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Oh, what's this? The key to the city?"

The woman didn't laugh. "Return it to the Arc, it was stolen from his family long ago."

Qrow looked down at the key in his hand. "I hate to break it to you but the kid's been away from home for some time. I don't think he knows how this works either."

"He will know when the time comes."

Qrow looked down at the key and looked back up to see the woman was gone. "What is this, a comic book?"

Qrow rolled the key around in his hand. _Great, a mysterious key and cryptic hint. How cliché._ Qrow sighed and put the key in his pocket, shifting his form and taking flight. _I gotta catch up to the kid. It's time we have a chat._

* * *

Weiss slammed the door of the library behind her before rounding on a tired looking Cardin.

"What are you doing here Winchester?"

Cardin seemed to take her in before responding. "My father insisted that I leave the front lines and join him on a vacation while he took care of some business."

Weiss nodded before asking another question. "How is Vale? How are Blake and Yang?"

Cardin raised his hands to stop her before she could launch into a tirade. "One at a time, to answer your first question, Vale is fine. The city has been declared safe again, but the school is still overrun. As far as the last two, last I heard, Blake disappeared and that Sun guy went after her, and Yang is stuck in therapy because of the arm."

Weiss shuddered at the thought of Yang on a therapist's couch. Weiss was broken out of her thoughts by Cardin.

"You didn't ask about Arc or your team leader."

Weiss blinked at Cardin's observation. "I didn't need to, I've had contact with them."

Cardin raised an eyebrow at her. "Then you're the last person to hear from them. Ruby and the remainder of Arc's team vanished shortly after the fall. Freshman weren't expected to help anyway, so no one noticed them disappear, but you know where they are don't you?"

Weiss hesitated for a moment. "What does it matter to you?"

Cardin shrugged. "I'm just curious where your team leader ran away to, and with a dead man no less."

This caught Weiss's attention. "What do you mean 'dead man'?"

Cardin shrugged again. "Apparently Arc is supposed to be dead. His village was reported as almost destroyed, and the Arc family was listed among the casualties. They were the last and main branch of the family too, direct descendants of Joan, and Julius Arc."

Weiss's heart stopped when she heard the fate of Jaune's family. "You're certain they are all dead?"

Cardin nodded, and scowled. "I asked my dad about it and he said that the Arc's were no more. He seemed almost gleeful about the fact that they were all dead."

Weiss recoiled at the thought."Who would be happy about a tragedy?"

Cardin shook his head. "I don't know but I decided not to tell him about Jaune."

Weiss bit her lip. _It couldn't hurt to tell Cardin some of what I know._ She took a deep breath. "The attack on Beacon was planned by a third party that used the White Fang as a tool."

Weiss waited a moment for the information to sink in, before Cardin's eyes widened.

"No, that...but who would want to bring down Beacon and Vale?"

Weiss shrugged, "I don't know who they are, but Jaune does. He's had dealings with them in the past and he almost attacked one of their people on sight. He's following a lead to Mistral with Ruby and what's left of JNPR."

Cardin blinked a few times, processing what Weiss had told him. "You're telling me that there's a group of people going around destabilizing the Kingdoms and trying to destroy the Schools. Why?"

Weiss shook her head. "I don't know yet, Jaune promised me answers if I met him in Mistral."

Cardin grimaced. "If your father is anything like mine than he's not going to let you go without a fight."

Weiss nodded, a plan forming in her head. "Which is exactly why you're going to help me slip his clutches."

Cardin nodded along, before realizing what she had said. "Wait you want me to what?"

* * *

Rufescent Winchester liked to think he was an expert at convincing people to see things his way. It's why he's had such a successful career as a politician. Before him sat Jacques Schnee, a wealthy businessman and Councilman of Atlas. _And hopefully a powerful new ally._ The elder Winchester was broken out of his thoughts by his host clearing his throat.

"What can I do for you Councilman Winchester?" Jacques questioned.

Rufescent grinned, "It's not about what you can do for me, but what I can do for you."

Jacques raised an eyebrow, and Rufescent knew he had the businessman's attention.

"As I'm sure you're aware, there is suspicion of a third party behind the attacks on Vale."

Jacques nodded along, motioning for him to continue.

"There is a shift coming in the global power dynamic, a consolidation of power for the benefit of the people is coming. It can't be stopped and quite frankly it shouldn't be." Winchester held his breath, waiting to see his fellow councilman's reaction.

Jacques was silent for a long moment before he spoke. "I take it by your tone you are looking for someone to help you with your efforts in Atlas?"

Rufescent smiled. _Hook, line, and now for sinker_

"We aren't just looking for help with our plans, we are also looking for a leader, someone to guide this group into existence, someone with standing in the community, who can be trusted with power and authority."

Rufescent watched Jacques light up in interest.

"Go on."

"It's rather simple, my benefactor plans to shift the balance of power within the Kingdoms and we need a trusted individual that has the best interest of the Kingdoms in their heart. I'm hoping for that to be you."

Jacques seemed to consider the offer. "I imagine there will be terms your benefactor wants met."

Rufescent smiled. "Of course, but you should really meet Salem in person. She will explain everything then. I promise all doubts will be erased during this meeting."

Rufescent stood up and smiled, offering his hand to Jacques. "You won't regret this decision." He reassured.

"I don't think I will." Jacques replied, with a smile.

* * *

Taiyang was sitting at the table eating a simple breakfast with his eldest. His usually outgoing and loud daughter was sitting across from him being quiet and writing something down in a notebook with an intense look of concentration.

"What are you writing about there?"

"Dream Journal, the doctor insists that I should write down everything that I can remember," Yang replied, without looking up from her now identified journal.

"How are the appointments going?

Yang shrugged and kept writing. "We've done a lot of talking so far. He asked about Beacon."

Tai nodded and continued eating while his daughter continued.

"We've talked a lot about my team and our sister team."

Tai was surprised by this. "Your 'sister team'?" He questioned.

Yang nodded, putting down her pen. "Team JNPR, Ruby watched one of their members, Pyrrha, die in front of her. Now she's following Jaune across the world on a revenge quest."

Tai raised an eyebrow at his daughter. She noticed his reaction and explained "Jaune Arc, he was the leader of team JNPR and he knew the woman that killed his partner Pyrrha. He's the friend Ruby left with."

 _Arc? Can't be, the Arcs were all killed when Ansle was attacked. No child fled with the survivors, so unless.._ Then it dawned on Tai. _Unless one of the kids was taken by an agent of Salem, to be raised as hers. Making him the Son of Salem, but how did Raven know?_ Tai was broken out of his thoughts by Yang trying to grab his attention.

"Dad?"

"Sorry I was lost in thought, what were you saying?"

Yang looked at him questioningly before repeating herself. "I was just telling you that he changed into a dress to make Pyrrha feel better after he gave her his word that he would wear a dress if she couldn't get a date." Yang shook her head with a chuckle, "He was particularly dense that one, the poor girl was waiting for him to ask."

Tai chuckled, "He sounds just like his dad. A man of his word but too dense to notice a girl likes him."

"You know his father?"

Tai nodded. "He was a good man."

"Was?" Yang questioned.

Tai nodded, "Sometimes bad things can happen to good people."

 _Usually because of Ozpin and Salem's war._ Tai watched his daughter nod before she finished what she was writing and stood up from the table.

"Thanks for breakfast dad. I'm going for a run before my appointment with the doc."

"Okay, just be careful and take it slow."

Tai saw his daughter roll her eyes as she was on her way out the door. He sighed and started to clean up breakfast. _The doc has things handled, I just got to make sure I'm here when she's ready. Which reminds me, I got to reach out to Ironwood and see about getting Yang a prosthetic fit for a huntress. When she's ready to dive back in she's going to need it._

* * *

 _Yang was back in the cafeteria, Adam slowly walking over form the far side. Yang looked aside and saw he team with her, she grinned. **This time I got my team at my back.** Yang took a step forward, suddenly she heard Weiss cry out for help._

 _"Don't let them take me back!"_

 _Yang turned and saw a man she didn't recognize in a white suit dragging her friend out the door. Yang launched herself at the door only for Blake to grab her arm, stopping her from chasing after Weiss._

 _"Let me go!" Yang screamed, desperately trying to pull free and pursue her friend's captor._

 _Suddenly the hand holding her back disappeared, and Yang watched as her partner vanished into the shadows, leaving her with just her sister._

 _"Blake.." **Not you too**_

 _Yang turned back to the now surprisingly close Adam and readied Ember Silica, as he drew his sword. Yang fired shot after shot and all of them passed through the grinning faunas. Yang turned her head to her sister who was just standing there watching her fight this impossible battle. Yang's attention was brought back to Adam by the sound of his sword sliding back into his its sheath. She turned and saw him back in the same stance, charging his semblance. Yang knew she couldn't stop what was coming but she tried to beg anyway._

 _"No, please no."_

 _Her tormentor just grinned and drew his blade, an arc of red energy flashing out and severing her arm with no effort. Yang cried out in pain and collapsed on her knees. She hugged her stump and looked to her left to beg her sister for help, but Ruby's back was turned to her, a backpack resting over her cape. The words died in Yang's throat when the doors to the cafeteria opened and she saw team JNPR standing there. Jaune extended his hand to Ruby as Pyrrha faded away, and Ruby began to walk towards him._

 _Yang tried to call out but her sister never turned her head. Jaune turned to her, a grin on his face, his eyes burning the soulless red of the Grimm. As she watched, the skin of his face turned bone white. His clothes fell off to reveal pitch black skin with white bone plates growing to replace his armor. His eyes returned to their usual cobalt hue, leaving a disturbing Grimm clone of the blond knight in his place with the same stupid grin plastered on his face. Yang watched in horror as Ruby went to stand next to Jaune before he turned and held out his hand to her._

 _"We need you Yang."_

* * *

Yang watched Doctor Letlier tap his pen on his notepad while she finished reading her nightmare out to him. He was silent for a few moments, making a few notes and glancing up at her thoughtfully. Yang fidgeted, waiting for the doctor to speak. Finally he looked up and rested his notepad on his lap.

"This one is very different from the last one. If I recall correctly, before it was only Adam that appeared in this dream, not your friends."

Yang nodded, not sure what say. The doctor watched her for a moment, before continuing his questioning.

"Can you tell me why Mr. Arc's eyes were red? Or why him asking for your help even made its way into the dream?"

Yang clenched her fist when she thought about the ending of the dream. _Why does he have red eyes? It doesn't matter. He had to have known what was coming and he did nothing to stop it._ Yang was shaken out of her thoughts by the doctor calling her attention.

"Miss Xiao Long? You do know these appointments are charged by the hour correct?" He joked, a small smile on his usually neutral face.

Yang shook her head, "Sorry doc, where were we?"

"We were talking about Mr. Arc's eyes in the dream. You described him as quote, 'A surprisingly strong lovable dork, who despite being terrible with a sword is definitely a strategist you want on your side'. Is that correct?"

Yang winced at her own description of Jaune. "To be fair doc that's how he presented himself to us."

The doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "How he presented himself? Please explain."

Yang shrugged, "He was always goofy and laid back. He didn't seem very strong or bright. Sometimes though he felt off, like he was just parroting what he thought a guy like that would say. Plus he always seemed too observant to be as dense as he was. His combat was also off by a hair. Like his sword was too small and shield too big, but he definitely had a head for strategy."

The doctor scribbled down some notes. "While certainly interesting, you didn't answer my question."

Yang went to nod but paused. _Should I tell him about what my mom said? He'll probably know if I lie, but I'm not sure if I should tell him._ Yang looked back at her therapist, taking in his unassuming appearance and calm smile. _I can trust him._ Yang took a deep breath and answered the doctor.

"Raven came by my house before I started coming to see you and got into an argument with my father. She called one of our friends traveling with Ruby the 'Son of Salem'. When she name dropped this Salem my father got worried. It was after that I started thinking about Jaune's inconsistencies."

Yang saw a shocked look cross the doctor's face as she mentioned Salem. Before she could question the doc, his scroll rang.

"I do believe that is all the time we have for today so if you'll excuse me I have to take this."

The doctor rushed into his office, leaving Yang alone in the treatment room. She sighed and got up, letting herself out the door and started a lazy walk back through town to her house.

* * *

Jaune walked out of the woods into his friend's campsite. They looked up from their dinner at him before quickly looking down. _Well that's to be expected._ Jaune sat next to Ren at the fire. His friend handed him a bowl of soup to which Jaune nodded his thanks.

They sat in silence eating for a few moments before Ruby put down her soup and looked expectantly at Jaune. He knew what was coming and put his own soup down, waiting for Ruby to speak. As he watched her search for the right words Jaune waited patiently.

Finally Ruby looked at him and spoke in a quiet voice, "You didn't have to kill those people."

Jaune met Ruby's desperate gaze. _I can't give you the answer you want Rubes._

"I didn't have a choice Ruby, sometimes you don't get a choice."

"You didn't even try! You just killed them, one after another like they didn't matter!" Ruby screamed.

Jaune sat silently looking into the fire, not responding.

"Why did you kill them Jaune? There had to be another way, there always is."

Jaune snapped, "No there isn't! Sometimes you have to kill the enemy to survive. I killed those men and women so you wouldn't be forced to!"

Ruby recoiled in shock.

"I stained my hands in even more blood because I didn't want to risk losing any of you, or worse watch you kill someone. I've seen what that can do to an idealistic and innocent person. I don't ever want to see that happen to a friend again." Jaune finished, looking back into the fire.

"Who was it?" Nora interjected after a moment of silence.

Jaune closed his eyes for a moment before responding. "Blake. It was my recklessness that put her in terrible position. She was forced to kill to save her own life. I decided to play with my food instead of dispatching the enemies quickly, and because of that she was blindsided by an enemy she wasn't prepared for."

Jaune grimaced, remembering the man's brutal death. "It wasn't a clean death, and that haunted Blake. The whole ride back she couldn't even look at Colère, and she just kept staring into space. Adam almost cut my head off, and not because she was haunted by it, but because I stole her first kill from him."

Jaune met Ruby's sad gaze as she continued in a quieter voice. "Then why didn't you kill Jade? If she's that much of a threat then why not kill her too?"

"She was wounded and retreating with her dead. Jade wasn't a threat anymore. Besides, I've caused her enough pain already."

Ren drew Jaune's attention by clearing his throat. "I would like to know exactly what kind of pain that was."

Jaune looked away from his friend for a few moments before turning back to Ren. "It was supposed to be a simple mission. Distract the Councilor's daughter/body guard, while Emerald and Mercury stole Intel on where a friendly was being imprisoned."

"I 'bumped' into Jade in the market and appealed to her warrior's ego. I challenged her to a dual: if I won I got to take her out for the night, if she won I had to teach her how I got my gauntlets to shift and react with just aura."

Ren's pink orbs burned into the side of his head as asked Jaune his next question. "You won, didn't you?"

Jaune chuckled nervously at his friend's accusatory tone. "I guess you did hear that line about me in her bed."

Jaune kept looking at the fire. When Ren said nothing Jaune continued on. "True to her word, she let me take her out on a date. Afterwards we went on a Grimm hunt, and things got heated upon our return. Jade practically dragged me into her room despite my protests."

Jaune paused, giving Ren time to process. Before either of them could speak Nora butted in.

"Ohhh, she dragged you into her bed so you two could boop."

Jaune blinked before sharing a look with Ren that said 'only Nora'.

"Yes Nora that's what I was implying. I didn't want to say directly that I had... 'booped' Ren's cousin."

Nora seemed to consider this a moment before she spoke up again. "Oh, you were being all sneaky about it so Ren doesn't get mad."

Before Jaune could correct her, Ren spoke up.

"What happened next Jaune? She was very clear that you betrayed her, and she wouldn't have been so hellbent on killing you if it was something small."

Jaune looked his friend in the eye. "Her parents were murdered by Emerald and Mercury before they brought a Grimm hoard down upon the village the family was vacationing in to cover their tracks. I had been lied to about the mission because Cinder felt I wouldn't go along with the loss of innocent life required to cover up the shift in the balance of the Mistriallian Council."

Jaune's gaze never left Ren's as he continued his explanation.

"No one was supposed to get hurt, it wasn't long after that mission that I retrieved Crocea Mors from our home base to replace my lost weapons, and I ran away. Shortly after I met Amber and Qrow, and you already know the rest."

Ren looked at him for a long moment before simply nodding and moving over to his sleeping bag. Jaune watched his friend lay down facing away from the fire. Nora glanced at him with concern before going to lay down next to Ren.

 _I hope this doesn't drive another wedge between us._

Jaune was broken out of his thoughts by Ruby.

"Promise me that you won't kill again unless absolutely necessary."

Jaune went to speak but was cut off by Ruby.

"I don't mean when you _think_ they could be a threat, I mean when they are about to seriously harm or kill one of us or a civilian."

Jaune met her determined gaze and he couldn't help but compare her to young Cinder when she declared they would have their vengeance on the kingdoms that betrayed them. He shook his head to clear the memory.

"I… I give you my word."

This answer seemed to satisfy Ruby as she nodded to him before saying her good nights and turning in. Soon he was alone with his thoughts. Jaune drew Colère off his back and stared at his old blade. The familiar weight reminding him just how foolish he was to think he could escape his family at Beacon. Jaune looked over at the sleeping forms of his friends and back at the blade stained in invisible blood. _You were the tool of Salem's wrath, not mine. I won't let you be the tool of my penance either. I can't trust you to protect my family._ Jaune placed Colère on his back and drew Crocea Mors from its sheath at his side, moving to take first watch with the weight of his past on his back.

* * *

Ren opened his eyes and sat up to see his team leader sitting on a rock hunched over the light of his scroll. A soft familiar voice drifted from the device.

"..Alright assuming you aren't cheating we can take a break."

 _is that...Pyrrha?_

Ren walked over and sat in silence next to his leader and watched the video with him.

"I just want you to know that I'm happy to a part of your life, I'll always be here for you Jaune."

Jaune made no move to pause the video as it rewound itself and began to play again. Ren gently took the scroll from his friend's hands and paused the video. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jaune spoke.

"I'm sorry Ren. I cost you a teammate and I drove your cousin to madness over revenge"

Ren was silent for a moment before placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Those weren't your fault."

Jaune opened his mouth to argue but Ren raised a hand to silence him and continued.

"Cinder killed Pyrrha, Emerald and Mercury killed Jade's parents. Regardless of your former ties with them, you didn't cause those deaths."

Jaune didn't answer him. Instead he stood up, took his scroll from Ren's outstretched hand, and walked over to his sleeping bag. Jaune paused to turn back to Ren.

"You know there are gonna be more bodies in the ground before this ends right? I'm gonna make sure those three are among them. Then I'll be the only one left to blame."

Ren didn't have a response for his friend, and watched silently as he climbed into his sleeping bag. Ren turned to take his watch.

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes and saw a village burning around him. He spun around and all around him Grimm tore through people and buildings alike.

"Jaune!"

Jaune turned towards the voice and saw a large man in white and gold armor on his knees, bleeding from multiple wounds. A faceless stranger stood over him as a Goliath approached the downed man.

"Take Crocea Mors and find your mother."

Jaune looked down at the worn blade, and despite his protests his feet carried him away from his fallen father. Jaune ran into the square and saw the mother he had never met on her knees. The faceless man stood over her, a wrist blade at her throat. She was looking right at him.

"I lo.."

She never got to finish her sentence. A thin red line traced its way across her throat as she collapsed. The faceless man turned to Jaune next. The dream hadn't changed all his life. Jaune's only memory of his family played out to torture him. But he knew who the faceless man really was.

The shadow of Tyrian Callows slowly approached Jaune. He knew he couldn't change the dream no matter how much he wanted to kill Tyrian. The dream ended the same way it always did, with the shadow smiling down at him as it reached towards him. Jaune woke from his dream to see his friends starting to stir. _This is going to be a long day._

* * *

The group went about their morning routine in silence and got back on the road with minimal conversation. The walk to Ansle was peaceful. They ran into no resistance from the local Grimm despite the tension left over from last night. The first attempts at idle chatter died in their throats, but soon they warmed back up and things shifted back to a semblance of normalcy between the group. Eventually Nora and Ruby couldn't wait any longer to ask Jaune about his weapons.

"So what can your sweet new-old weapons do fearless leader?" Nora questioned.

"Well the gauntlets have a dust sprayer and projection mode. I later incorporated a shockwave producer that uses a blend of wind and gravity dust with a dash of fire dust to produce a powerful shockwave that can bypass weaker auras." Jaune explained.

This piqued Ren's interest. "It can bypass aura?"

"In a manner of speaking. Technically aura still blocks it but the force can bleed through. If I were to use it on someone with low aura there is a great chance of bleed through, but the strength of the aura also matters. Though enough successive hits can weaken or break someone's aura. At that point bones start to break."

Ren watched Jaune look into the distance and grimace, before shaking his head and smiling again.

"Do they have names?"

Jaune smiled as a shield sprung to life from his left gauntlet, and the right's plates slide up past his knuckles.

"Meet Aegis and Bruiser." He declared proudly, raising his left and right arms respectively.

Ruby immediately grabbed his left arm and began inspecting the gauntlet.

"Ruby what are you looking for?"

"The shifting mechanism."

Jaune chuckled, surprising his friends. "There isn't one. I shift it at will by flexing my aura."

Ren watched Ruby stare at Jaune for a moment and back down at his gauntlets.

"That is so cool! I've never actually seen aura shifting armor and weapons."

"And the sword?" Ren questioned.

Jaune drew his sword and rested the flat of the blade on his left palm. "This is Colère, a multi action dust bastard sword. I made all three of them myself."

Ren looked the blade up and down as Ruby drooled over it, noting the craftsmanship and care that was put into the weapon. "The craftsmanship is quite remarkable having been made by an amateur."

Jaune nodded his thanks as he put his weapon away.

"Thanks, I practiced for months with different master smiths to perfect my skills. Though I don't think I could recreate the effort without the aid of a professional."

Ren nodded at Jaune's humble response.

They continued to question him until they had exhausted everything to ask about them. It was about midday when they finally made it to A rather large frontier town. The guards stopped them at the gates.

"State your names and business."

Ruby stepped forward before Jaune could open his mouth.

"I'm Ruby Rose, a Huntress in training. We are just passing through on our way to Mistral. These are my companions: Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and Jaune Arc, also Huntsman in training."

The guards grumbled to themselves, one pulling up his radio.

 _What's taking them so long?_ Ruby wondered.

"Alright your you're free to enter but the mayor wants a word with you four."

Ruby looked Jaune with a worried glance. He waved off her concern.

Ruby turned back to the guard, "Okay, we don't know where that is though."

The guard chuckled as the doors opened and shouted down instructions from the top of the wall.

"Just look for the large red building with the tall conspiracy theory inducing CCT booster sticking out the top."

He wasn't wrong about the booster being really tall. They could see it looming over the main street of town the moment they stepped into the town gates.

"Gee I wonder where we need go." Jaune said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"What do mean Jauney? The tower is right there. Maybe you need glasses. Don't worry, I can lead you there." Nora said, pointing to the tower.

Jaune just looked at her as she started dragging him down the main street. He turned to Ren, "I thought Nora knew what sarcasm was?"

Ren raised an eyebrow, "She does."

Jaune stared at his friend and turned back to Nora.

"Then how?"

Ren just smiled and shrugged, "She's Nora."

Jaune just grumbled and kept walking. _That makes no sense though! Oh..wait, this is Nora we're talking about_.

The mayor was waiting outside the building for them. Jaune stepped up and held out his hand for the mayor to shake. He took it and smiled at them.

"Welcome to my town Huntsman. I'm mayor Greenson."

Jaune smiled back at him, "Hello Mayor Greenson, my name is Jaune Arc, and these are my companions and associates: Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, and Nora Valkyrie. You needed us for something sir?"

The mayor shook his head, and held out a simple house key to Jaune. "No my boy, I just wanted to give you your inheritance personally."

Jaune looked down at the key in his hand, and back up at the mayor. "My inheritance?"

"The Arc house, your father built it by hand and left it to his children. You are the last living listed inheritor so the house is yours."

Jaune nodded, _That takes care of lodging I suppose. Not sure I'll be able to sleep much though._

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me. Your family helped build this town and thanks to them we survived the biggest Grimm attack this village has ever seen. All the amenities sill work, and your family's belongings were left alone out of respect."

Jaune nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Thankfully Ren stepped up for him.

"Thank you. If you could direct us we are all in dire need of a shower."

Jaune tuned the two of them out as he stared at the key in his palm. He barely paid attention as Ren led him to his family home. To be honest, Jaune was nervous.

 _I was raised by The Queen of all monsters, I was facing down licensed Huntsman while leading a hoard of Grimm at sixteen, I killed a man with my bare hands when I was fourteen, and I'm defeated by a building._

Jaune looked at the rather large house with his family crest proudly displayed over the door. His hands shook. _I don't think I can do this. I don't even have any memories of my family or this place, just a nightmare._ Jaune felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to the sympathetic gaze of Ren.

"We don't have to go in right away if you need a minute."

Jaune shook his head and held the key out for Ren. "You guys go on ahead. I have someone to visit first."

Ren just nodded and took the key from him. Nora followed Ren into the house after giving Jaune a quick hug. That left just Jaune and Ruby outside the house. They didn't speak. Jaune was looking at his family's crest. He barely noticed Ruby watching him until she spoke.

"I know what it's like to lose a family member when you can barely remember them. You have to find a way to honor them and move forward."

Jaune didn't respond. He just kept looking at the crest above the door. He heard Ruby sigh and move towards the house.

"Thank you Ruby."

She stopped walking but she didn't turn back to him. "Thank me by honoring their memory."

He watched her enter his childhood home and gently close the door behind her. _I'm a stain on their memory._ Jaune shook his head and walked over to the nearest resident of the town to ask for directions.

* * *

Jaune knelt down in front of his father's grave. He traced his hand over the name Soleil Arc. He looked down the line of eight other graves, his mother and seven older sisters. Jaune looked back to his father's grave and glanced up at the statue of his parents looming over their graves. Soleil Arc stood tall, a jovial smirk etched onto his bearded face, Croce Mores in his right hand and a dust dagger in the other. His mother Juniper, was standing by his side, a warm smile on her face. Her spear rested comfortably on her right shoulder and her hand cannon was holstered at her waist. Jaune didn't know how long he stood there staring at their stone faces, trying to memorize every detail. _I just wish I could talk to them, instead of a statue._ He thought bitterly as began to speak.

"Hey mom, hey dad," he started, hesitating. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I wish you guys were here. I could really use some advice right now." He paused again.

Closing his eyes, he continued, "Please just answer, I don't know what to do. My friends don't know what they're getting into but I'm afraid that if tell them everything they will never be able to look at me the same. Ruby already can't stand to look at me. I don't know what to do. We're chasing shadows to Mistral on the hope that I can wring some info from Salem's informant. I hate that I have to play this stupid game of shadows. I went to Beacon to get away from this. So that I could just take the fight to Salem without lying and manipulating my friends." He seethed, clenching his fist, eyes still closed. Jaune didn't notice that his aura was lighting up the graveyard like a beacon.

"I hate her and her followers so much! She took me away from you, Cinder killed my partner and destroyed Beacon, Tyrian killed you, and Watts manipulated me like a puppet on strings!" He roared, sobbing as he fell to his knees. "But I'm not strong enough to face them myself. I wasn't strong enough when my partner needed me the most, I'm not strong enough to tell my friends the truth." He paused for a moment, tears streaming out of his closed eyes, "I'm afraid I won't be strong enough to help my friends survive the coming war and get my revenge on Salem."

Jaune just sat there on his knees, eyes closed, waiting for a response. _Well that was embarrassing. The dead will be of no help and I'm not on good terms-_

"So then don't focus on your revenge. An Arc's first priority is the protection of their loved ones and those they are sworn to protect." A deep voice interrupted his thoughts, startling Jaune into standing and drawing his sword only to come face to face with a ghostly golden projection of his father.

Jaune just stared in shock as the apparition came into focus, the same jovial look as the statue on his face. His father spoke again after a moment, "Hello Jaune, it's nice to meet the man my little knight grew into."

The shock having worn off, Jaune was confused. "How can you be here?" He asked, sheathing his sword.

His father laughed a deep jovial sound. Jaune found a warmth bloom in his chest from the sound. "It seems you got more than just your name from your great grandmother. It's your semblance my boy, communication with the dead."

Jaune blinked a few times. _Wait did he just say my semblance is communicating with spirits?_ "I've never heard of such a semblance," Jaune stated, confused.

His father looked at him for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face. "No wonder you're so lost boy. You don't even know your own family's history or teachings." He said, a scowl on his face.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm afraid to go into the house. It's too painful to see the life I could have had." Jaune said quietly, bowing his head.

He felt a warmth touching the aura on his left shoulder and he looked up to see his father resting a ghostly hand on his shoulder. A somber smile on his face.

"Jaune," his father began, he paused a moment. "You can't let the past and the what ifs hold you down. You don't have to forget the past, and you should certainly learn from your failures, but don't let them consume you." He finished with a warm smile.

Jaune took a deep breath. _Okay then._ "So what do I do?" He asked.

"Simple, you keep living by the hymn of duty." His father replied, a twinkle in his eye.

Jaune watched as his father drew his phantom Croce Mores and planted it in the ground, hands resting on the pommel of the simple sword. Jaune mirrored his movements and waited, curious as to what his father would do next. Jaune watched his father relax his face into a calm expression before he spoke.

"The dead are dead. We hold their memory in hearts, and their spirits our own. We sharpen our swords, polish our shields and armor, so we may defend those still living from darkness in all its forms. So is the duty of an Arc. We are the shield of the helpless. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the warriors of all lands in defense of them and those we love and in honor of those who have fallen to the darkness. We do not draw our first breath until after our first battle, and we shall draw our last in the battle. So is the fate of all Arcs from now until the end of our line." His father finished, raising his sword in both hands, pommel level with his chest before sheathing his blade.

Jaune copied his action. "So that's it? I just stand up and move on and forget for the sake of the people?"

He watched his father shook his head. "No, you remember what has happened and who has fallen, but you move from it and continue to protect not only those you hold dear, but all people in all kingdoms. Those are the duties of an Arc, and of a hunter." His father said with a sad smile.

Jaune took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay then, I'll make you proud Dad. I'll prove myself worth the Arc name." He said, his mind made up. _I'm coming for you Mother, but not for me, for all those you have hurt and all those you plan to hurt._

"You proved your worth when you chose to stand up against Salem despite the fact that she raised you, and I've always been proud of you son. We all are." His father said with a smile.

Jaune felt another tear leak from his eye and a new blossom of warmth in his chest. He wiped it off and stood up straight, nodding to his father. "Then I have a lot of work to do. I've gotta patch things up with my team." He said.

His father just smiled and clasped his right hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Goodbye my son. May your weapons stay sharp, your shield strong, and the light of your soul true."

Jaune reached up to clasp his father's shoulder. The moment his hand touched his father, Jaune's vision faded.

When his vision returned, Jaune noticed it was night. He turned, looked to his left, and saw his father in the flesh, standing in front of a hole in the wall. Crocea Mors flashed in his hand as he cut down any Grimm trying to get into the town.

Jaune was confused. "What the Grimmlands is going on?"

Jaune tried to get the attention of the villagers rushing by but no one could hear him. As he got too far away from his father he felt a tug. Jaune looked down and saw a strand of pure aura connecting him to his father. Jaune saw his father drop to one knee unexpectedly. The Grimm began to surge towards the hole in the wall, sensing the weakness in its defender.

Jaune rushed forward, reaching for his Crocea Mors only to find it gone. He didn't have any of his weapons. He could only watch as the Grimm closed in on his injured father. Suddenly with a roar his father slashed forward, a golden arc of pure aura projecting from the blade and cutting through the Grimm like a knife through butter.

Jaune just stared dumbfounded at his father. _How did he.._ He was broken out of his thoughts by his father falling onto his other knee with a grunt. Jaune saw Tyrian standing in front of his father, wrist blades dripping with blood, scorpion tail raised to strike. He was talking to himself.

"Just one little scratch and you're done for, or I could leave you to the Grimm. Which would please the goddess more?" Tyrian stood there scratching his chin, taunting his father.

Tyrian had to throw himself backwards to avoid the arc of golden aura aiming to bisect him. Jaune could only watch as he seemed to have made up his mind. Tyrian stalked towards his father, when he was distracted by the shout of a young boy.

"Leave him alone you big meanie!"

Jaune and his father turned to look at the kid and saw a little boy with a tiny handgun standing there defiantly. He recognized the fire burning in his blue eyes, it was a younger him.

Tyrian smiled his creepy smile at the child. "Hello little one, my goddess would like to meet you."

Jaune watched Tyrian try to walk past his father, only to be yanked back and over the wall by his arm as one of his wrist blades twisted on itself.

His father sheathed Crocea Mors and collapsed the shield, tossing it to the young Jaune.

"Jaune, you have to find you mother. Tell her there is an agent of Salem here for you."

His younger self clutched the sword to his chest. "But what about you? And why does he want me?"

Jaune watched his father smile at his younger self. "There's not enough time. Go find your mother. I'll be right behind you kiddo."

 _No you won't._

Jaune's younger self seemed to realize this to. He ran up to his father and hugged him, before turning and running into the village. Jaune knew what his younger self would find when he reached his mother. The image haunted him in his nightmares. Several loud cracks broke Jaune out of his line of thought.

He turned back to his father only to see him rise like a puppet on strings, in defiance of his slashed tendons. Jaune just stared as his father drew a dagger from his waist and drew earth dust from a canister on his back, holding it in the shape of a sword with the dagger acting as a hilt. With a pulse of aura, the blade hardened.

Jaune watched, fascinated as his father tore segments of his armor apart with a wave of his hand and coated the edge of the blade in the jagged metal. His father turned to the center of town but a roar stopped him. Jaune and his father looked back to the hole in the wall and saw a Goliath standing in the woods, a pack of Beowolves surrounding it.

The pack was quick to surround Jaune and his father. Jaune was confused by the Grimm's behavior. _Why aren't they attacking yet? These are cubs, they aren't smart enough to strategize this way._

"So you want a re-match huh?" Jaune's father called out.

Jaune turned back to his father to see him looking at the Goliath. Jaune noticed a large, perfectly straight scar on the beast's face, most likely from whatever his father had done with Crocea Mors.

"Dad no, you have to be almost out of aura and you're using a makeshift weapon."

His father couldn't hear him of course and walked out of the town, followed by the pack who formed a ring around him and the Goliath. His father pressed a button on the canister at his back and it began to spew ice dust. The dust flowed around his left arm and formed the shape of a shield before freezing in that shape.

"Well, you ready for round two?"

There was a grumbling sound from inside the Grimm's throat and it lifted its trunk to reveal a ball of energy.

His father rolled to the right to avoid the beam of energy that tore from the Grimm's mouth. As he came up he launched himself at the Grimm. Some invisible force pulled him up and over by the legs, letting him carve a deep gash in the beast's back. As he landed, he had no time to dodge the trunk that wrapped around his legs. The Grimm picked him up and slammed him into the ground repeatedly, shattering his ice shield before throwing him through several trees where he landed and rolled, dazed.

"Okay, he was definitely ready." His father said, shaking his head as he lifted himself up and held out a hand to pull his makeshift sword back to him.

The ground started to shake as the Goliath approached. Soleil looked up at the great beast as it approached, its stolen pack surrounding him. Jaune could only watch as the wolves closed in, forcing his father onto the defensive. As he fought, his aura finally gave and his semblance slipped from his control. Soleil collapsed to the ground, unable to move his legs once again. The Grimm pounced, shredding armor and flesh.

Jaune watched as the Goliath signaled the Beowolves to step back, and walked over to the defeated man slowly. It lifted its trunk, preparing a blast of energy to end his father.

"Come on dad, you can't take this lying down. Get up!"

His father couldn't hear him. But his right arm moved under him slowly and came back out with a large canister glowing with all kinds of dust.

"You should have let them tear off my arms."

Soleil threw the canister into the maw of the beast, the energy it was gathering ignited the dust and caused a massive explosion. His father was tossed aside by the explosion. Jaune stared at where the massive Grimm once stood. All that remained of the proud beast were was its back legs and a portion of its hindquarters that promptly fell to the ground with a thunderous crash.

Jaune sat there in this memory or vision or whatever to watch his father slowly drag himself back to the town, bleeding from multiple wounds. His father couldn't hear him as Jaune begged him to stop and let his suffering end, that Jaune was unable to leave. The sounds of fighting in the village had long died out, they were followed by a voice shouting for his father.

"Sol?!"

"Hey Sol! Where are you buddy?!"

 _Wait that voice sounds familiar._

Jaune saw a figure closing in on his father, a man with a large sword in his hand spotted his father and ran over to him.

"Sol!"

 _Qrow?_

Sure enough, it was Qrow Branwen who ran up to Jaune's dying father. He picked him up and leaned him against a tree.

"Qrow? It was Salem Qrow, she sent an agent for my son. Did Jaune make it to Juniper?"

Qrow rested a hand on Soleil's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Juniper is dead. Sol why does Salem want your son?"

"I don't know." Soleil lurch up, grabbing onto Qrow. "You have to get him back Qrow. Please save my son."

Qrow laid his father back against the tree. "I promise I'll find your son, and when I do I'll make sure he walks in your footsteps."

 _The transcripts, he was fulfilling a promise. Why didn't he tell me?_

Jaune's father smiled and closed his eyes. "Good. I'll say hi to my wife for you."

The world around Jaune started to fade as his father passed. He watched as Qrow stood up, a fire blazing in his eyes, and pulled out a scroll. "Summer, the Arcs have been hit. Salem's agents stole Jaune and killed the others."

The black continued to close in, leaving Jaune alone for only a moment before he came back to the real world.

Jaune looked at the inquisitive face of his father.

"What was that?"

"I believe that was a death vision." Soleil said.

"Is it a part of my semblance?" Jaune asked.

His father nodded, "Yes it is. Your gift comes with the ability to see how another died and through sharing that experience, gain a deeper connection with the one who has passed. At least that's what Joan's Journal says. I have no clue what it means."

Jaune nodded. "Thanks dad, I have to go meet up with my team."

His father waved and vanished in a flash of golden light.

Jaune left the graveyard and began his trek back to his family home. Suddenly Qrow stepped out from an alley and blocked his path.

"We need to talk kid."

Jaune looked at his friend and nodded.

"Yeah I'd say we do."

* * *

The new fall maiden stood before him. Ozpin could see the power lust in her eyes before a flash of red and white filled his vision. Then nothing, endless darkness and peace, but it could not last. Ozpin heard the words of the gods in this empty place.

"You have failed Wizard, because of your failure the world is now unbalanced and an evil like no other has been released onto this world. You shall be chained to your creation, banished from death until Salem has fallen."

Ozpin opened his eyes and found himself in a simple shack. Ozpin looked over to where the door to his old shack used to be. He found two doors, one of wood, and one of stone. The wood door had an obsidian infinity inlaid in the door, the other door made of stone had an ivory torch lit with a green fire. _I should make a cup of coffee before I decide._ He got up out of his tiny cot and walked over to the stone fireplace. He crouched down and tried to summon a bit of fire. _Nothing._ Ozpin tried again, getting only a few sparks. Suddenly a ball of green fire struck the fireplace, igniting it with emerald flames. He could hear the creaking of his rocking chair in the corner.

"You are by far the most foolish of all my incarnations."

Ozpin stood up and turned around to look at the man in the rocking chair. He was dressed in faded emerald green robes. Tired green eyes gazed out of a surprisingly young face. _The first?! That's not possible_

"How are you here?" Ozpin asked.

There was no response from the wizard, he just kept steadily moving the rocking chair. Ozpin waited for the wizard to answer his question, but when no answer came and the old man just kept rocking, he gave up and went to return to his original task of making a cup of coffee. Ozpin opened his cabinets and took out a small jar of coffee beans. Ozpin turned to the wizard still rocking in his chair.

"Would you like a cup?"

The wizard stopped rocking. He finally looked away from the fire at Ozpin. "I would like for you to stop wasting our time and finish this war."

Ozpin met the wizard's gaze head on. "You mean you want me to curse another innocent child so he can fix your mistakes?"

The emerald fire suddenly flared as the wizard stood up from his chair.

"Don't talk to me about mistakes boy." The wizard roared, "I have watched through other's eyes for hundreds of lifetimes as they fought and died to stop Salem. What did you do Ozmandias? You used a relic to end a war and then created a peacetime instead of rebuilding the Kingdoms and turning them against Salem. You sat in your ivory tower and played your proxy war for so many lifetimes that your soul was too weak to stand up to a maiden on a power high!"

Ozpin watched in silence as his original predecessor sat back down and waved his hand at the raging fire, causing it to return to normal levels. He stood there for a moment, watching the wizard rock back and forth before he shook his head.

"I'm not you. I have carried on as long as I have because I care about the people of Remnant. I play a game of chess with Salem because it means I don't have to raise an army only to watch them be slaughtered. I can give a select few the choice to fight this war you started."

"And where has that gotten you?"

Ozpin considered the question before he answered. "It didn't get me anywhere, but it gave several generations of people the chance to live full lives in peace. I held Salem at bay and set up institutions to give people the power to protect themselves and their homes. I chose to play the teacher instead of the king because I would rather teach those who come after not to make the same mistakes than place myself above them, wielding all of mankind's gifts as my own."

Ozpin turned towards the two doors and stepped towards the stone door. Ozpin reached out to touch the torch but paused when he heard the original speak again.

"It will be your downfall."

Ozpin looked back and shook his head. "No, it will be my victory."

He turned back to the stone door inlaid with the emerald torch. _I'm sorry to thrust this upon you, but I don't have much choice at this point._ Ozpin apologized, as he placed his hand on the torch. The emerald fire seemed to come to life and flow like real flames under the touch of his soul. Ozpin closed his eyes and pushed the door open.

* * *

 **Sorry about the delay on this chapter. College, work, and some life stuff has been eating up my time. I plan to keep working on this story during the school year, but college will take precedence. I have no plans to abandon my story. I may not post for a longer period than expected but I** **won't** **just die and disappear. Also there is an Omake below. These** **aren't** **going to be a regular thing in this story I promise. I just** **couldn't** **get this random idea out of my head and I had to draft out a chapter plan and write this sneak peak at the first installment titled The Queen of Monsters and The Warrior King. More information on my profile, please enjoy.**

Omake:

Jaune Arc woke up to the sound of his scroll going off. He groaned and looked at the cursed device. It was 3:55 in morning and the caller id read Professor Ozpin. _Why is Ozpin calling me at this hour?_ Jaune shrugged and answered his scroll.

"Hello professor, why are you calling me this early in the morning?"

"Mr. Arc, I am afraid I need your help with something. I have slept with your mother and am now trapped in Grimmlands."

It took Jaune a few moments to processes what the professor had said.

"Wait, you slept with my mom! My father is going to kill you. As a matter of fact, I'm going to kill you!" Jaune screamed.

There was silence for a moment before the professor responded. "You misunderstand Mr. Arc, I slept with your adopted mother, Salem, the one who kidnapped you. I am calling you from my hiding place under your bed in the Grimmlands."

Jaune's heart stopped beating. _Ozpin slept with Salem._ Jaune quickly got dressed and ran out of the dorms, away from prying ears.

"So let me get this straight. You slept with Salem, who you apparently know had raised me."

"That is correct."

"Salem the Queen of the Grimm who until recently wanted to destroy the world?"

"Well she only desires to guide us towards a new age of equality and prosperity by ruling over us as an all-powerful monster queen."

Jaune sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why did you call me professor?"

"Isn't it obvious Mr. Arc? I need you to come break me out."

Jaune's eye twitched, and he threw his scroll at the ground shattering it. Jaune took a deep breath and decided to go for a jog around the school to calm himself down. _And so I can plot how to kill Ozpin._

* * *

Partway into his jog around campus, Jaune noticed Yang coming up behind him. Jaune waved to her as she approached, but the greetings were interrupted by the ring of Yang's scroll. She came abreast to him as she answered.

"Hello professor."

"..."

"You're joking right?"

"..."

"Well if there really is no time to explain then I have no incentive to help you, do I professor?"

"..!"

"Okay fair enough I'll put him on."

Jaune sighed as Yang handed him the scroll with a Cheshire Cat grin that could rival Neo's. _Now that's a scary thought, the two of them let loose together._

"My answer is.."

"Before you speak Mr. Arc, just know I have discovered your journal, and your mother's baby photos including ones from the Arc household provided by Juniper."

Jaune froze. _Oh gods, YANG!_ Jaune turned to look at her knowing grin.

"Should you fail to save me, these rather potent blackmail materials may fall into the hands of the wrong people."

"I hate you Ozpin."

"Now now, that's no way to talk to your adoptive stepfather young man."

Jaune hung up and handed the scroll to Yang.

"So, you gonna save the man who banged your mom or am I gonna get to extort some people who want baby photos?"

Jaune shook his head and stopped. Yang stopped jogging and turned to him, her grin dying at his pained expression.

"Yang I'm gonna be gone for four days. If I'm not back after that time, assume I'm KIA."

Yang laughed at him, "Good one vomit boy."

Jaune ignored her, pulling out his black scroll that he reprogrammed after he left the inner circle. He held his thumb down on the golden button until the device beeped three times.

"Initiate Knightfall protocol, set time frame four days."

The device beeped twice, and Jaune passed it to a worried looking Yang.

"After the four days are up the device will unlock and the information in it will explain everything."

Yang cradled the device gently in both hands. "You sound like you're marching off to your death."

Jaune chuckled, "I may be, depends on how much of a grudge some of my family holds."

Jaune turned to the bullhead docks and walked towards the loading platform where the first bullhead of the day had landed and was waiting for its return run. _I'm defiantly screwed. Maybe Qrow will help me if I tell him it's to save Ozpin._

* * *

A half hour later, Jaune slipped into his safe house and scooped up his backup scroll. He dialed a number, the scroll ringing twice before Qrow picked up.

"Jaune, how you been? Have you slept with the female half of your team yet?"

Jaune rolled his eyes, "No, I'm calling about who Ozpin has slept with recently."

"Oz got himself a lady friend? Nice, I bet Glynda's happy he has something other than meddling with the lives of his students to occupy his free time."

Jaune coughed. "Um, no. He slept with Salem, who just so happens to be my adopted mother. He called me early this morning to blackmail me into saving him."

"..."

"Qrow?"

"Meet me at Frosty Shots in Atlas tomorrow at 2:00. We can discuss the details there. See you there kid."

Jaune said his goodbye and hung up. He sighed, turning to face the weapon and armor rack on the wall of what was supposed to be a normal apartment. His black plated armor and mask sat on display, his sword and gauntlets hanging in their places, drawers full of dust cartridges for both weapons attached to the side of the unit.

"This is not going to end well at all."


	7. I see Dead People

Wayward Son Chapter 7: I See Dead People

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

Jaune looked down at the jade key in his hand in confusion. "She didn't tell you what it was for?"

Qrow took a long drink from his glass before responding. "Nope. She gave me the cryptic speech and the key. Figured even if you didn't know what it was for your old man's journal might have a clue."

Jaune nodded and stowed the key away in his pocket for later inspection. "Speaking of my old man, I saw his death."

Qrow paused and looked at him eyebrow cocked. Jaune continued his explanation.

"I discovered my semblance, I can talk to ghosts and see how they died."

"Shit kid..." Qrow was silent for a moment. "What did him in?" he asked softly.

"He was ham-stringed by Tyrian Callows, and left at the mercy of Goliath that had taken command of a small pack of juvenile Beowulfs. I'm not sure how but he pulled himself up and used some kind of semblance to make a replacement blade. He was weakened and didn't stand a chance but somehow he won."

Qrow tapped his glass on the table twice and downed the rest of it.

"I take it you heard our conversation then."

Jaune nodded. "You knew the whole time." He accused.

Qrow said nothing just staring at his empty glass.

"Why didn't you take me seriously at Beacon?"

"Glynda insisted that we trust you and take action, she took a shine to you kid. Didn't buy the 'I can't hold a sword to save my life' routine. Ironwood wanted to interrogate you and put you on trial to scare Salem's forces. Oz saw something in you though, something in your eyes that made him pause on trusting you with everything. He was against Ironwood, but he didn't stand with Glynda either."

"And what did you think?"

Qrow didn't answer his question, instead asking his own. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

Jaune nodded, "It was in the woods near Mistral. You and Amber saved my life after I bit off more than I could chew."

"That night while you slept Amber and I had a long conversation. I tried to warn her that you had been raised and possibly brainwashed by Salem for close to a decade but she didn't want to hear it. She was convinced she could save you. I tried to remind her that you lied right to our faces, but she waved it away. I wanted to keep an eye on you anyway now that you had resurfaced, so I didn't turn you in to Ozpin and let her take you around the world. When I got you into Beacon I sang your praises and promised Oz you weren't her pawn anymore."

There was a pregnant pause while Qrow chose his words.

"I'm sensing a 'but' here Qrow."

"But I wasn't sure what to think after Amber got hit. I wasn't sure we could trust you."

Jaune's world came to a standstill as he tried to process Qrow's words.

"You thought I betrayed Amber?"

Qrow sighed, "No, at least not voluntarily. So I voted for caution so we wouldn't cause an international incident by locking up a bunch foreign teenagers, and a local."

"Do you trust me now?"

Qrow nodded slowly. "I trust you kid, and I'm sorry I doubted you in the first place."

Jaune took a deep breath and downed the rest of his drink. "I get it, you were trying to be cautious."

Qrow shrugged at him, taking a swig from his flask. "Speaking of trust, when you gonna tell your friends the truth?"

Jaune drummed his fingers. "I don't know. The incident with Jade, and my...permanent approach to dealing with her men has left Ruby and I on a rocky edge. Things are good for now but I'm afraid if I reveal the truth to them now it will cause unnecessary problems."

Qrow nodded. "Makes sense, but I still wouldn't wait too long if I were you. Sooner or later Ruby is gonna have a target on her back because of her eyes, and if the wrong rat, with the wrong connections hears that someone with John Crescent's weapon is heading to Mistrial and that someone just so happens to hate you...Well it could cause some problems for your friends. Eventually they are gonna need to know what they're up against."

Jaune considered pouring a full drink, but he settled for pouring a half glass and downing in before standing up. "Are you going to be joining us on this little quest?"

Qrow poured himself a full glass. "Nah, I'll keep watch over you kids until you reach Mistrial. If nothing happens before then I'll reveal myself when you get there and help you explain what's going on."

Jaune nodded. "Thanks Qrow, I gotta get back to the others."

Qrow grabbed his arm as he walked by the table. "Kid. Next time you talk to your old man, tell him I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep my promise."

Jaune nodded. "I will."

Qrow let go of his arm. "Good. I'll see you around kid."

"See you around Qrow."

Qrow raised his glass to him before Jaune turned around and left the inn.

* * *

Doctor Watts was busy in his private lab in the ruins of old Mantle when one of his terminals lit up alerting him to an incoming transmission from Salem.

"My lady." Watts greeted

"Watts, Report."

"I am still looking over the data Cinder stole from the Vale CCT, and there was also a surprising amount of data that she was able to take from Ironwood's flag ship that we didn't expect. In other news we have lost all but our highest agents and Doctor Letlier in Vale."

"How?"

Watts grimaced. "Branwen."

There was silence from the other end of the call for a few precious moments.

"Disappointing, but not unexpected. Tell me what is our Puppeteer up to?"

"He's currently ensuring that the other Branwen's brat won't continue her career as Huntress."

"What a waste of potential."

"My lady?"

"She could be a valuable conduit to Ozpin's stray bird."

"What about Jaune? Should we even chance him acquiring her allegiance? It could give him the same benefit we seek from controlling her."

"My dear Watts all we need do is plant enough seeds of doubt in the girl, she shall take care of the rest. See to it that the good doctor begins on this immediately then sends her on her way. Her mother shall no doubt help cement her distrust in our errant knight and the wizard's pawns."

Watts nodded. "It shall be done my lady."

"Oh and Watts, do your best to slow the construction of the temporary CCT. It is important to keep everyone separated and afraid, especially with my son's location currently unknown."

"Of course."

Watts ended the call and pulled up the dish control plotting the signal course for Patch. Watts keyed in the scroll number and waited for the doctor to pick up.

"What is it Doctor Watts?"

"There has been a change in plans for the young golden dragon."

"I see, what do you want me to do?"

* * *

Jaune stood at the door to his childhood home. He was afraid, especially with his newfound semblance. _I can't remember anything except that horrible night. I'm not sure I could look my mother or sisters in the eye, it was hard enough to talk to my father._ Jaune reached for the doorknob turning it slowly. He took a deep breath and stepped into the house.

The first thing he saw was a large dining room table, fourteen chairs sitting around it, the walls behind it decorated in photos. Jaune could see a staircase on the other side of the table. To the left he could hear the sounds of food being prepped, and to the right in the living room he heard giggling. Jaune moved towards the living room. The first thing he noticed was the patchwork rug that looked like four different rugs had been stitched together to form an odd tapestry. He didn't know why but the sight brought a smile to his face. Jaune looked up and glanced around the room noticing more pictures on the walls, a bookshelf behind two worn looking recliners, with a couch on either side of them at an angle forming a v shape with a wide bottom instead of a pointed one, all of them facing the old hollo display on the wall to his right. On one of these couches he spotted Nora and Ruby giggling at a photo album. Nora looked up at him with a big grin on her face.

"Jauney you and you sisters were so cute!"

Jaune smiled and walked behind the couch peeking over Ruby and Nora's shoulder at the album. Ruby pointed at one in particular. He could see five little blond haired kids all standing on top of a wooden fort, holding a laughing woman hostage with fake swords. His mother had long dark blond hair, and bright blue eyes.

"You got your eyes from your mom." Ruby commented pointing to the next photo on the page.

The picture showed a younger Jaune with a wooden sword and shield standing in front of his mother facing down his older sisters while his mother stood smiling behind him. Jaune's fingers brushed the photos gently.

"You alright Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Jaune nodded. "I'm fine I just wish I could have met my mom." Jaune closed his eyes trying to commit her smiling face to memory.

"Jaune you're glowing right now."

 _What?_ Jaune opened his eyes and saw that his whole aura was glowing. "I didn't call up my aura though." Suddenly his aura flashed brilliantly before fading.

"Look at you, my little knight all grown up."

Jaune's eyes snapped up to see the specter of his mother standing in the middle of the room, a sad smile on her face. Jaune was speechless, he didn't know what to say.

Nora looked up, "Oh hi ghost of Jaune's mom." She looked back at the photo album while Jaune and Ruby stared at the woman in the center of the room, before it finally clicked for Nora. "Oh my dust! Jaune your mom's ghost is in the room with us!"

"Mom?"

"Hello Jaune."

Jaune took a hesitant step towards his mother, he stopped himself from reaching out to her.

"You look just like your father."

Jaune looked at his mother, he wanted to tell her what he'd done, who he was.

His mother cupped his cheek, "You have that same look your father always had when he couldn't save everyone."

Her smile disappeared and her eyes bristled with sorrow. Jaune reached out to his mom hesitantly, she reached out to grab his hand. Jaune felt a warmth wrap around the aura in his hand. There was a small amount of resistance as he squeezed his hand around his ghostly mother's. There wasn't much solidity of her form but it was there.

"Dinner is…"

Jaune turned to see the dumbfounded expression on Ren's face and the looks of wonder and shock on Nora and Ruby's faces.

Jaune smiled. "Oh I almost forgot, I found my semblance. Turns out I can talk to dead people."

As expected his friends took a moment to process this new information. Before they could say anything his mother spoke up.

"Go enjoy your meal children. I must speak with my son alone." She turned back to Jaune. "Come we have some things to discuss in private now that you have found your semblance."

Jaune followed his mother out of the living room and down into the basement of the house. She points to the far wall of the basement. "Call your aura to your finger and trace the shape of two arcs in the center of the pink granite in that wall."

Jaune followed his mother's instructions knowing where she was going with this. Sure enough he heard a click, and one of the larger stones making up the bottom basement wall pushed inward showing a steep secret staircase.

Jaune turned to his mother rolling his eyes. "So having cliché hidden bunkers runs in the family apparently."

His mother rolls her eyes. "Just get in the bunker Jaune."

Jaune walked down into the hidden bunker, a quick glance around and he notices a map of Remnant with marks in every major kingdom except Atlas. Jaune notices that there's a mark in the old kingdom of Mantle. _Near where Watts has his creepy mad scientist lair._

Jaune turned to his mother's ethereal form.

"We have a lot to talk about before you pass out from the strain of contacting the dead."

Jaune blinked. "But my aura's fine, I talked to dad and I feel fine."

His mother's eyes widened in surprise. "You what?! Great now we have even less time than I thought."

Jaune shrugged. "Can't you just tell me tomorrow?"

His mother shrugged. "There's no telling if you'll be able to manage three summons so close together, the aura crash from just these two conversations will be bad enough."

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "How bad would it be if hypothetically I saw dad's death?"

Jaune saw his mother's eye twitch. "You're going to regret that."

She pointed at the desk. "You will find my journal and you father's journal on the desk over there. If you have any questions, consult them. There are some notes about the family semblance in there, unfortunately much of it was lost. I wish we had more time but I must go before you end up in a brief coma. You and your friends should feel free to take what you need from the armory and stores."

"Got it, anything else?"

His mother nodded. "Where are you going and why are you here?"

Jaune took a deep breath. "I defected from Salem's faction and joined Beacon Academy. Due to events I helped set in motion, the school fell. I failed to protect my partner from a former associate, and she managed to steal the power of the previous Fall Maiden and kill Ozpin. Unknown to my friends, I fed them the lead that started this quest, and now we're heading to Mistrial where I have plenty of stolen incriminating files on Salem's inner circle and her agents in the kingdoms. I plan to give all of them to Qrow when he meets us there."

Jaune watched his mother bite her lip. "Okay, things aren't as bad as they could be. I need you to make me a promise Jaune."

"What?"

"After you give everything to Qrow I want you to take your friends and leave. Don't get them or yourself any more wrapped up in this war. There is no shame in abstaining."

"Only in retreat right? If I walked away now it would be retreat. I helped cause this and it's my duty to help fix it."

"Jaune..."

"Mom...I've been a part of this war for as long as I can remember. I was raised to be warrior, a _weapon_. I need to fight for the right side, and see this through to the end. I owe the victims of the Fall that much." Jaune felt exhausted for some reason and sat down at the desk chair. _Probably the crash mom mentioned._

His mother smiled down at him. "It's a wonder that you weren't Ozpin's next reincarnation."

Jaune almost didn't understand, then it hit him. _Ozpin was the wizard?! No wonder he doesn't trust me now. Oh wait..._

"Son of a bi-"

Jaune was cut off by his head hitting the desk as his semblance's backlash hit him full force. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was his mother's voice.

"Sweet dreams my little knight."

* * *

Cardin sighed as Weiss led him into the store. "Remind me why I have to be here?"

"You are a councilman's son are you not?"

Cardin waved his hands in the air. "What does that have to do with clothes shopping!"

The heiress leveled a glare his way, Cardin felt ice crawl up his spine. Some deep animalistic part of his brain told him to fear her. He gulped in spite of his pride.

"You are here to help me pick out a dress for my father's fundraiser,. Surely you've been to functions like this before."

Cardin scoffed. "I'm not your fashion consultant. I'm a Huntsman."

Cardin shivered when she leveled the glare at him again. _She really is an ice queen._

"Cardin shut up and help me pick out a dress."

Cardin grumbled and pulled a few dresses he thought were her size off of the various racks. Most of them had way too many ruffles and padding, and all simple dresses either wouldn't fit the small girl's body type, or were cut way too revealing. Cardin shook his head as he looked at a white dress whose cut had the neckline end just below the belly button. It was designed to show the valley between a woman's assets and emphasize them to a ridiculous degree. _Dust, the choices are either eye candy, history piece, or trophy wife. Coco was right Atlas fashion sucks._ Cardin smiled thinking about the hell Velvet described the Vytal Festival Ball shopping to be. _I can't believe it but I kinda miss team CFVY, who would have thought._ The weeks following the Fall were hell for Cardin, and he was sad to hear hat CFVY would be transferring to Vacuo for the start of the next year.

"Well have you found anything? I have some I want your opinion on."

Cardin shook his head and glanced at the racks again. He spotted a full length dress, with a slit on the left side that started white at the bottom and faded to pale blue. The dress was paired with some kind of pale gray blue shoulder piece with long sleeves, fastened with a simple silver broach over the throat showing off the skin just above the breasts. Carding grabbed it and followed Weiss to the changing room in the back of the store.

She took the dress from his hand and gave it a glance. She didn't comment but she seemed satisfied.

"We will be done shortly." She assured him slipping into the room to get changed.

Needless to say they weren't done shortly. Dress after dress Cardin was forced to comment on. If she didn't think he was being honest he got the glare. As Weiss disappeared back into the changing room for what felt like the thousandth time Cardin noticed that the dress he had picked wasn't on her discard pile yet.

"Well, what do you think?"

Cardin glanced up and saw the heiress in the dress he had picked out.

"Wow."

It looked perfect on her. She was a regal as ever, but there was something about the dress that just fit. _Maybe this is what Coco meant by, every person has a perfect outfit._

"It's perfect," he blurted out.

Weiss inspected herself in the mirror and looked back at him, eyes narrowed as if she was searching for a lie. She looked back at herself and nodded.

"See Winchester was that so hard? Let me get changed and we can leave."

Cardin nodded and picked up the pile of discarded dresses, handing them to the attendant who had been giving them space the whole time after one glare from Weiss. He smiled at the woman and she nodded to him.

"You've got good taste sir that dress looks amazing on Ms. Schnee."

Cardin nodded. "Thanks. I had some extensive training from a fashion oriented friend. She literally beat it into my skull."

The attendant laughed and put the dresses into a sorting pile.

Cardin couldn't stop smiling as he walked out of the store with Weiss, carrying the bag like a gentleman of course. He kept smiling as she demanded that he join her for dinner. _I guess even Ice Queens get lonely._

* * *

When Jaune woke up he could hear a conversation going on around him. It was faint and he couldn't make out what they were saying. There was a sudden stabbing pain in the back of Jaune's head, making him groan. He brought a hand up to rub his face. The world came into focus and Jaune saw Nora leaning over him. Not a moment later and Jaune's headache made him wish he hadn't opened his eyes.

"Jaune-Jaune, you're awake! Renny, Ruby Jaune's awake!"

Jaune groaned at the spike of pain from the volume of Nora's voice. "Nora, ninja voice please."

Nora stood up straight and saluted him. "Sure thing fearless leader." She whispered.

Really it was more like loud mumbling under her breath with Nora, but it was better than nothing. Jaune sat up with another groan, his whole body feeling exhausted. Jaune tried to focus his aura into his head to help alleviate his headache, but Jaune couldn't feel his aura. _What the hell._ Jaune fumbled out his scroll to check his aura. The bar was just a tiny sliver of red. _So this is the crash mom talked about. No aura left, and hangover worse than Vacouan Vodquila._ Jaune was broken out of his musings by Ren.

"How are you feeling Jaune?" his friend asked, concern written on his face.

"Like I was flung off a cliff without a landing strategy, and no aura."

"Well why would you let yourself be flung off a cliff without those things Jaune-Jaune?"

"It was joke Nora I wouldn't be that dumb."

Ren raised an eyebrow and Ruby giggled, Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Oh whatever I had that under control."

Nora tilted her head at him. "I thought you flew through the air screaming your head off until Pyrrha pinned you to a tree, and not in the fun way."

Ren ignored her handing, him a glass of water. "Your aura is startlingly low, what happened?"

Jaune chugged the glass of water. "My mom called it an aura crash. I guess contacting two dead people and having a vision of one of their deaths can be draining for a first time semblance use."

"You had a vision of one of your parent's deaths?" Ruby asked, eyes wide

"Yeah, it was an accident, but at least I know my old man didn't go down without a fight."

Ren nodded and glanced at Nora, "it can be nice to have that closure."

"So what did your mom want to talk about?" Ruby asked.

"She showed me a bunker under the house and told me we could help ourselves to the supplies and weapons inside. I didn't get the chance to look around before I passed out."

A flash of red and a trail of rose petals filled Jaune's vision.

"Well someone's excited."

There was silence for a moment before a sequel echoed from the basement.

"Ren."

"Yes Jaune?"

"I think we should check on Ruby."

"Probably."

A loud gunshot rang out followed by a yelp and a soft thump. Jaune shared a glance with Ren and the two of them rushed down to the basement. The first thing Jaune noticed was the large hole in one of the bunker's interior walls next to the door labeled armory and another in the far wall. Jaune stepped into the armory and found Ruby up against the back wall groaning. Jaune glanced at the wall she blew a hole in and noticed a straw dummy missing its head and the top of the shoulders was shredded. A metal plate with a chunk torn out of it was sticking out of the remains of the shoulders. The fragments of the head were scattered on the wall around the hole.

Jaune shook his head and walked over to the sheepish Ruby. He glanced down at the discarded rifle, picking up the massive sniper. _Damn, an Atlisian Javelin, mom and dad liked to pack serious firepower._ Jaune heard Ren check on Ruby, scolding her.

"Hey I didn't mean to blow a hole in the wall!" Ruby protested.

Jaune chuckled. "How's your shoulder Ruby?"

Ruby rubbed her shoulder. "It's a little sore. I expected less kickback."

Jaune laughed, "Rubes this is a modern version of the Atlisian Javelin, these things were built to punch a hole in airship plating."

Jaune examined the rifle in his hands. It was about as heavy as he remembered it to be, almost too heavy to fire from a standing position. He glanced over to the weapon wall and noticed the case with a gold Javelin painted on the side. Jaune strode over to the case. Pulling it down and with deft movements, he disassembled the gun and stored it in its case placing it by the door to take with them.

Jaune noticed Ren watching him while Nora and Ruby were looking at the swords and guns on the back and left walls.

"You have experience with that rifle."

It was a statement not a question. Ren was observant like that. "I hold the world record for the longest sniper kill in history, 2.5 miles away." Jaune patted the case on the floor. "All thanks to one of these babies."

Ren was silent for a moment. "As detestable as murder is, that is an impressive shot."

Jaune smirked. "That's nothing, I once took a shot through two separate office buildings to hit a small window the size of a dinner plate. The only window in the entire room."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming it was a hardened room, so why wasn't the window bullet proof?"

Jaune patted the case at his feet. "This big fella has a younger cousin. Not as overpowered, but it has rocket propelled rounds that pack just enough punch to go through bullet proof glass a mile away."

Ren nodded. Before he could speak the two were interrupted by Ruby.

"Hey Jaune...I think I found your family's weapons."

Ren and Jaune turned to the little red reaper. She was standing next to the right wall of the armory. Jaune saw what she was talking about, nine custom weapon racks, and a tenth rack that held a simple handgun.

Jaune walked down the wall glancing at his family's weapons. He stopped at the last rack before his parent's, noticing it was empty. It was his eldest sister's. Jaune glanced up at the name above the empty rack. _Violet. Could they not recover it? Or did Tyrian take it as a trophy?_

"Are you okay Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Jaune nodded and turned back to his friends. "I'm fine, I don't even remember them. Help yourselves to the weapons on the other walls. My mom said there were supplies down here we could take. It will save us from having to resupply before we reach the coast."

Ruby looked at him with sad eyes and nodded, gesturing to Ren and Nora to give him space.

Jaune was grateful for their understanding. He took a glance down the racks of weapons. _Most of these are kind of simple stock weapons._ Jaune saw racks with short swords paired with semi auto handguns, another with a long sword and hand cannon on it. Jaune picked up the sword to test its weight and noticed a button on the hilt. With a press the sword segmented into a bladed whip. "Not bad, probably great for slicing up smaller Grimm." Jaune placed the sword back on the wall and walked down the length of racks, spotting a shotgun with a battle ax head on the end of the barrel. Jaune picked up the weapon finding a switch to collapse the stock. "Nice, got enough weight to the blade to do damage, but not so much that it could throw off a shot." Jaune placed the weapon back on the rack before the next one caught his eye. A revolver rifle with a short scope and tilted iron sights on the side of the scope. "Oh that one's definitely coming with me."

Jaune glanced at the remaining three racks, all holding simple swords and hand guns. Finally Jaune looked to his parent's racks. A simple dust dagger with the family crest as the guard was all that sat in his father's rack. Jaune pulled the dagger off the wall and slipped it into his right boot. _Might as well complete the set._ Jaune turned to his mother's rack. He picked up her handgun, a respectably large hand-cannon. Jaune pulled out the ammo drawer underneath the rack. _Wait there's only .50 cal rounds, and 12 gauge rounds in here. Someone stocked this wrong._ Then June noticed the hand-cannon's speed loaders, one for .50 cal, and another for 12 gauge. "No way..." Sure enough Jaune spotted a release for the chamber, and a second chamber in the drawer. A quick check confirmed Jaune's suspicions. "Mom carried around a hand-cannon that shoots .50 cal rounds or 12 gauge shells. Damn I wouldn't have wanted to piss her off."

Jaune noticed a button next to the hammer. He pulled the gun off the wall and flicked the switch. The barrel and chamber rotated back and a small blade the length of a short sword extended out from the bottom of the barrel. Jaune examined the blade. _Not the strongest blade, but thin enough to slip between a rib._ Jaune grabbed the weapon's holster and replaced his stolen knife with his mother's hand-cannon. Jaune slipped the knife into his left boot. _Always best to have a backup._ Jaune glanced down the wall at his sisters' weapons again. Admittedly Jaune didn't know how to use some of them but it felt wrong to leave on a wall collecting dust. Jaune noticed and a large unmarked weapon's case in the corner and made up his mind. He packed up a few of his sisters' weapons and placed the case next to the Javelin. _I can leave them in my Mistrial safe house if they become too much trouble._

Satisfied with his newly acquired gear, Jaune took one last glance at the weapons his family had stocked. _I should at least try and convince the others to take a backup weapon._ He browsed the racks again, picking out two collapsible war axes with dust ports in the bottom for Nora. _Should be right up her alley._ Jaune spotted two silver gauntlets with blades extending from them on the armor wall. _Ren is a hand to hand expert. Now I just gotta find a suitable weapon for Ruby._ Then he spotted it, a small black sword. Jaune picked it up testing its weight and inspecting the weapon. The blade was about two feet long, and deceptively heavy for its length, but not unbalanced. Jaune noticed the switch by the hilt, with a flick the blade extended by another foot and the tip opened, blade folding back to create a curved edge with an open tip. A trigger slid out of the handle. Jaune checked the caliber and slipped a few .308 rounds into the hilt of the weapon. Jaune pointed the sword at what was left of the training dummy Ruby had obliterated with the Javelin. He pulled the trigger, testing the accuracy and recoil. _It's accurate at this short range, she will probably be using Crescent Rose at longer ranges anyway. There's enough recoil to use its momentum for a spin slash, especially with her size._ Jaune nodded to himself, satisfied. He grabbed a few boxes of ammo for his and Ruby's new weapons from the store room attached to the armory and slipped them into an ammo case. _I should probably grab ammo for the others' current guns too. It will save us time on resupply._

Jaune called out to Nora for help. "Nora, come help me carry this stuff upstairs, and grab Ren and Ruby afterwards!"

He waited only a few moments for a reply. "Coming fearless leader."

* * *

"You want me to what!?" Ruby shouted clutching her weapon to her chest.

Jaune raised his hands "I'm not saying you have to give up your weapon, I just want you to learn to use a new one just in case."

Ruby pouted at the blond, "My baby works just fine."

Ren watched in amusement. Jaune raised and an eyebrow.

"Tight hallway too close to level your gun, now what?"

"I step to the back and let you take front with the shield, firing over your shoulder."

"I'm in the room ahead of you currently engaged. Everyone else is engaged in their own fights."

Ruby frowned, "I run down the hall to get some distance."

Jaune shrugged, "That could work, if he and his partner at the other end didn't both have guns."

Ruby stomped her foot. "That's not fair Jaune, you're trying to make this impossible!"

"Real life isn't fair! Real life sticks you in shitty situations, and you either adapt and plan, or you die!"

There was silence, Ren prepared to step in between the two.

Jaune hung his head and began to speak slowly and calmly, "Maybe you could dash into one of the mooks and knock him out, or maybe he's just a little better than you think and now you're engaged without your weapon or any hand to hand skills. Battles aren't fair Ruby. Pyrrha learned that the hard way, a backup weapon could have allowed her to survive long enough for one of us to get to her. You saw what Cinder did to Milo."

"Jaune..." Ruby hesitantly reached towards their friend.

Ren spoke up before Jaune could push her away and cause another fight. "I agree with Jaune, the same thing always works on Grimm, but humans can be much harder to deal with."

Ren held his hands out to Jaune for the gauntlets. Jaune smiled at him gratefully and handed them over. Ren slipped the gauntlets on, they weighed less than he expected. _I understand his reasoning but I don't think I like the plating on the fingers._

"From personal experience I would recommend getting the finger plating removed and just keeping the knuckle and back of the hand plating for deflecting blows, it will help you keep your dexterity. There's a blacksmith in town who can help with that."

Ren nodded. "We should have enough money for customization and still be able to afford passage across the sea. We don't exactly have to worry about ammo, or food until we reach the Mistrialian border thanks to your family."

Jaune nodded in thanks. "We should all stop by for maintenance and modification on our way out today."

Ren shook his head. "Jaune, I hate to burst your bubble, but it's almost sunset. You slept away most of the day. We'll be better off staying here and visiting the smith tonight. We can head out early tomorrow."

Jaune sighed and rubbed his face. "It's probably for the best. I'll be in the bunker if you need anything."

No one commented as Jaune left the room. Ren turned to Ruby and Nora.

"I'll wait up for him." He promised.

The girls nodded and made their way upstairs.

* * *

Ruby passed by the top of the stairs on her way to the bathroom and she overheard Jaune and Ren talking. Ruby wasn't a very nosy person, but she wasn't stupid. Jaune wasn't going to tell her everything, but Ren he would definitely tell.

"No she needed to hear that Ren."

"I get it Jaune, but you should still apologize to her. She lost Pyrrha too."

Ruby heard a long sigh.

"Yeah, I know. I got a friend in Mistrial that deals in high quality weapons on the side. I'm sure he'll cut me a deal. I'll let Ruby pick whatever she likes."

"One of your contacts from before?"

"Don't give me that look Ren, he's clean. As far as he knows I'm a bounty hunter. That said, there are a few shadier people there we will have to keep an eye on."

"What kind of people?"

"Did I ever tell you guys what I did for Cinder?"

There was long pause, Ruby held her breath.

"You killed political targets, and opposing criminals."

Another sigh. "Yeah, the official title Atlas prefers is wet work specialist. That's just a fancy way of saying murderer. I didn't just kill politicians, and criminals that were in the way though."

"Huntsman."

"Yeah. You lure them into a rabid hoard of Grimm and pick them off with a quick round to the head after their aura breaks, and the Grimm take care of the rest."

Ruby gasped. _Jaune killed Huntsman._ She was shaking.

"Why Huntsman though? I understand killing political targets to influence policy, and getting criminals and others who could interfere out of the way, but Huntsman? What's the motive?"

"To weaken the Kingdoms."

"Why though?"

"Control, Cinder and her mistress Salem want to control the world. By destroying the schools and causing people to lose faith in Huntsman. Yeah, I'm still not sure I should be getting you guys involved in this."

"Wherever you go we shall follow, you're our friend and we aren't going to let you do this alone."

Ruby nodded with Ren, and backed up the stairs slowly to retreat to the room. She'd heard enough for one night.

* * *

Jaune looked at his smiling friend who was tending the small fire the two had made. _I need to tell at least Ren._ "Ren..."

Ren met his eyes again. "Yes?"

Jaune shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "There's more to the story."

Ren raised an eyebrow and waved him on.

Jaune took a deep breath. "I don't know the whole story behind the conflict, but along time ago Salem crossed paths with Professor Ozpin, though he was known by a different name at the time."

Ren tilted his head at him. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

 _Here it goes._ "Ozpin is a reincarnating wizard from a time untold, centuries before the Kingdoms even existed. I'm pretty sure he was the Warrior King of Vale, but I won't know until I find his next incarnation."

Ren just stared at him for a moment. "And Salem?"

"I don't know what she is to be honest. I've seen her use real magic Ren, but if you ever saw her you'd see that she's very distinctly some kind of Grimm human hybrid. She and Ozpin have been at war for untold centuries, Ozpin trying to protect humanity and Salem trying to tear down everything he's built."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "And you worked for Salem destabilizing kingdoms and thinning out the Huntsman population."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, and hunting for the Maidens."

Ren looked confused. "Maidens?"

Jaune nodded. "Ozpin's creation. Not sure when but at some point old Oz became a hermit and four girls helped him out of his funk. He gave them a portion of his magic, they gained control over the elements."

Ren's eyes widened. "The tale of the four seasons."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. Amber, my friend was the Fall Maiden."

"Was?"

"We went separate ways so I could head to Beacon. Cinder attacked shortly after, she did something to put Amber in a coma. I think she may have stolen a portion of power from Amber, but I can't be sure."

"That's how she killed Pyrrha, right?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, with the full Maiden power she was able to defeat Ozpin. Pyrrha wanted to delay her, I tried to warn her but she was faster."

Ren sat in silence for a moment. "This is a lot to process."

"There's more Ren."

Ren grimaced. "Of course."

"Short version there were two gods, one of light one of dark. The God of Darkness created the Grimm, and the God of Light created animals and plants. Together they made humanity, then they left this world behind, but they left us gifts. Relics: Creation, Destruction, Knowledge, and Choice. That's why Ozpin built the schools, to protect the relics from Salem."

"Why not toss them into the ocean, or hide them in a cave?"

Jaune shook his head. "She has eternity Ren, the Grimm will find them eventually. The Vaults are the best place for them, only the Maidens can open the vaults."

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Why put something so important in a vault you can't open?"

Jaune shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he can open them too. I don't have all the answers just what Salem told me, and most of that was lies about Ozpin, and his allies."

"Your friends aren't going to be hiding in Mistrial for us to find them are they?"

"No, I'd imagine they have made it back to the Grimmlands by now. I need to make contact with the Headmaster of Haven, and hope he can point me to Ozpin. From there we'll get in touch with Qrow Branwen, Ozpin's right hand man. I have intel hidden in a safe house that I need to give to him."

"And you'll tell Ruby and Nora the truth then?"

"If things go according to plan, Oz and Ruby's uncle Qrow will be there to back me up."

"And if things don't, and we get attacked by your old allies?"

"Then I break my promise to Ruby and tell them the truth after."

There was silence between the two for a few moments.

"You know Nora and I will be with you no matter what right?"

Jaune smiled, "Yeah, I know."

* * *

"So, child. You were able to remove Beacon from the picture, cut my son off from Ozpin, but yet you were unable to fulfill his role of keeping her on track, and lost track of him in the fall." Salem could feel the girl's fear as she replied.

"No ma'am. Cinder lost focus as expected, and Mercury and I were separated from her and unable to reign her in fast enough."

"So you failed your primary objectives, and you don't know if Cinder even managed to kill Ozpin?"

"Yes."

 _Disappointing, but not the girl's fault._ "Peace child, you are not to blame for the failure at Beacon. Cinder bears that responsibility."

Salem stood up and walked to the window of her throne room. _And my son of course, but that will be dealt with in time._ "You may go child, Cinder should be up again soon. It will be up to you and your partner to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Yes ma'am."

Salem didn't acknowledge the girl's response, continuing to look out the window at the shattered moon. _You will burn Ozpin, and if my son must burn with you so be it. But the blood will be on your hands again._

Line break

 **So, I went back and remade chapter one. It's not a complete retcon, but it's certainly better and sets up Beacon Jaune better. To be honest it kinda felt empty without a Cinder and Jaune interaction. Anyway those of you who haven't read it yet, you should check it out.**

 **I suppose we should talk about V6 real quick huh? Volume 6 Episode 3 alone has changed things quite a bit. I gotta admit I was a Frankenstein theory supporter, but what the writers came up with was better than my head cannon. Anyway what does the new lore mean for this story? Nothing drastic, it certainly changes details down the line, but I'm pretty adaptable so that's fine. It also makes some things easier to justify. I just have to use what we have learned in place of my head canon. That said, this an AU so if it fits the story I want to tell I have no problem going canon divergent, after the Mistrial arc this story was always planned to be heavily divergent anyway so it's no skin off my back. I will be inferring things about relics we have yet to see in action based on theories and head canons, and am probably going to go AU on what they can and can't do. So if the show proves they can't do what I say they can, oh well, this a fanfic about a show that's still airing things aren't gonna line up.**

 **One more thing… sorry about the delay between chapters, college and work have kept me busy and drained. So I left a little treat below as an apology.**

* * *

The Cardinal Rule Chapter 1: We're off to save the Wizard Part 2

Jaune stood outside Frosty Shots, a small bar in Atlas's largest northern frontier town Aegis and Bruiser hidden under his sleeves, and a duffle bag hid the rest of his equipment from prying eyes. Jaune glanced up at the sign of a frosted over shot glass and noticed the snowflake emblem on the glass. _A Schnee Dust Company sponsored bar?_ It was clearly their symbol on the shot glass. Jaune shrugged and entered the bar. He immediately noticed the nontraditional setup of the bar. The back wall was dominated by the bar itself, with a VIP area resting above it on the second floor. The main floor was occupied by sets of tables. _It looks more like a Valeien pub, than a bar._ Jaune glanced around noting the bar's occupants. _Four processing plant workers on the back right corner of the bar. Five Huntsman at the tables, two sitting together the rest sitting separately, possibly Schnee Company mercenaries. There are at least two executives on the VIP floor judging by the chatter. And a dusty old Qrow sat in the center of the bar._

Jaune made his way over to the bar and sat to Qrow's left giving him room to draw his weapon if necessary. Qrow spoke to the bartender right as Jaune sat down.

"Two shots of Vacouan Vodquila, the real stuff."

The bar tender glanced at Jaune and he flashed a fake ID to the guy. The bartender nodded pulling a skull shaped bottle off the top shelf and pouring two full glasses.

"A fake, really?"

"Hey I'm a wanted man, and former agent of you know who. Paranoia is part of the job. Besides Yang drinks all the time and she's actually under age."

"Touche."

The bartender returned sliding them the glasses and laying two thick metal coasters with a glowing cyan core next to them. Qrow proceeded to place his glass on the coaster, the rim of the coaster glowed to match the core and the glass began to frost in seconds. Qrow caught Jaune staring in amazement and grinned at him.

"Say what you will about what the Schnee company pours their resources into, but these little babies are a wonder of modern technology."

Jaune placed his own glass on its coaster. "No kidding these things are actually really cool. How do they work though?"

Qrow shrugged and took a sip of his drink. "I'm not sure. All I know is those little gold circles in front of each seat act as a recharge station, and they keep drinks the perfect temperature."

Jaune rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink. "Okay Qrow time to get to business."

"Yeah you want me to help you rescue your step dad from your crazy world ending adopted mother."

Jaune grumbled into his glass. "Just because he thought it would be a good idea to sleep with her doesn't make him my step dad."

Qrow laughed at him. "Kid our dear old wizard has been married to her since before either of us were born. Back then they didn't have divorces either, and bringing you know who to court for the papers is a bad idea."

Jaune frowned. "When the hell did they...Oh gods."

Qrow nodded. "Yup, former lovers and immortal enemies for all eternity. Kinda messed up if you ask me."

Jaune wasn't paying attention though. _He's Ozma! Ozpin the crazy coffee addicted headmaster of Beacon is the greatest warrior in history, the man who built the Kingdoms and ended the great war, and he's also my step dad!_

"Hey kid you still with me?"

Jaune shook his head and downed a huge gulp of his drink.

Qrow chuckled at his reaction to the news. "So kid you have a plan to rescue the old man?"

Jaune nodded. "I do, but we need a ship, a really fast ship. One with stealth tech if possible."

Qrow grinned and downed his glass. "I know just the place to 'acquire' such a ship."

Jaune groaned and copied his friend. "I get the feeling there's a catch."

"Yup, we're gonna need a certain wanted man to come out of retirement and steal it for us. You wouldn't happen to know where John Crescent is would you Jaune?"

"I hate you."

"Don't put your step daddy issues on me kid, this is his fault after all."

Jaune sighed and glanced longingly at his empty glass and the wonder of technology beneath it. Jaune noticed the bartender was absent and leaned over the counter to steal two coasters. _One for use the other to learn its secrets._ "Alright let's get going then, I have somewhere we can come up with a plan in the next village."

Qrow got up and threw a wad of lien on the bar, and wrapped his right arm around Jaune. "Let's go save your dad."

"Step father, and he's not the same person who married her anymore either."

"Who you trying to convince, you or me?"

"Shut up Qrow."

"Nope."

* * *

"Sorry but you're gonna have to run that by me again Qrow."

"Simple, I need you to break into Atlas High Command in your tights.."

"Combat gear."

"...and steal a prototype stealth ship, disengage and destroy any tracking modules, and get out in one piece."

"But you forgot to mention the specialist they have watching over the program."

Qrow waved him off and took a sip from his flask. "Not that important."

"Qrow it's Winter they have guarding it."

"So?"

"SO! Qrow I'm way out of practice with my weapons. If she catches me I'm not confident in the outcome of that fight."

"I have faith in you kid. Besides if we don't steal the ship we won't get close enough to Salem's castle to rescue Oz. It's mission over."

Yang's grin flashed in Jaune's mind. _Gods damn it._ Fine but I'm gonna need to get some supplies from another safe house on the way."

Qrow patted Jaune on the back.

"This is going to go horribly wrong."

"Probably."

* * *

 _Oh this is not going to work._

" _You ready kid?_ "

Jaune shook his head. "No."

" _Come on it will be fine._ "

"You're not the wanted man who's about to draw attention to himself. The attention of Ironwood's right hand woman."

" _Don't worry kid Ice Queen is just gonna kick the shit outta you for a bit while I figure out how to hot wire this thing._ "

"Not helping Qrow."

" _Well then maybe your little toys you insisted on picking up might help._ "

Jaune glanced down at the bag at his feet. "Let's hope. You'll know when I've started the distraction."

" _Good luck kid, you'll need it._ "

Jaune rolled his eyes and snapped the burner scroll in half. "Tell me something I don't know."

Jaune looked out over the Atlas military base. _High command. Surprisingly easy to break in and just stand up on the wall. Jaune shrugged. I'm not gonna complain considering what I'm about to do._ Jaune knelt down and opened his duffle bag, pulling out and strapping a rifle to his back. Jaune fastened the ammo pouches on his belt, trying to make them accessible during combat around his coat. He picked up his modified harpoon gun and took aim at the main sensor tower. Jaune fired the harpoon and waited till he was sure it had made its mark. Jaune gave an experimental tug to confirm the harpoon was in. _Right, now for the hard part._

Jaune detached the rope from the gun, pulling out a knife and tying the rope to the handle. Jaune took a deep breath and prepared for the throw. Jaune aimed to the left of the tower, and wound up for the throw. On release he triggered his gauntlet's shockwave for extra propulsion. He heard a metallic clink and assumed the knife either stuck or bounced off.

 _Doesn't matter either way._ Jaune pulled out a detonator. _Time to see if I still got it._

With a bright flash and loud bang the det cord ripped through the array's superstructure causing it to collapse under its own weight, and draw the attention of everyone on the base.

"Show time."

Jaune dropped a smoke grenade at his feet.

* * *

Captain Noir was having a good day. It was almost time for his shift to end, the night wasn't too chilly, and in a few days he would be on leave. Then the main sensor tower blew up.

"Shit!" Noir keyed his radio. "I need emergency response to sensor array tower one. We are blind, people! Sound the alarm and notify Specialist Schnee. Alpha, Bravo, Delta move in on sensor one. Charlie grab armor and prepare to give fire support."

Noir was moving in when one of the men of Alpha shouted out.

"Up there!"

There was a figure atop the wall, just barely visible through the smoke.

"Contact! Fire at will!"

The soldier opened fire on the figure. The man stood unmoved under their fire.

 _Something's not right._ "Cease fire, get the armor's lights on that guy."

As the smoke began to clear and the Paladin lights illuminated the wall it relieved a flickering hard-light form, arms crossed over its chest, middle fingers proudly on display.

"It was a dis..."

A loud boom echoed behind the captain, followed by the loud crash of a Paladin falling to the ground. The captain turned around to see a man dressed in all black land on top of another Paladin and point his rifle down at its back. With a mighty bang and bright flash, a clean hole was cut through the back of the unit causing it to fall over. The man jumped off and holstered his rifle. He drew a black bastard sword and turned to face them. Noir recognized the knight helm mask.

"Red alert priority one, target John Crescent spotted, requesting specialist support and engaging. Fire at will!"

* * *

 **Not gonna lie, it felt good to write this. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a review. As always I hope you enjoy the story.**


	8. Seeds of Doubt

Wayward Son Chapter 8: Seeds of Doubt

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Productions. Created by Monty Oum

Beta: tabjoy13

* * *

doctor Letlier glanced down at his note pad making sure he had covered everything. He spared a passing glance at the young huntress lying on his treatment couch deep in hypnosis. _I should implant a recursion loop, to reinforce the programming._ The doctor sighed to himself and itched the bridge of his nose. _This would be easier if I had access to Watt's lab like last time. Those drugs did wonders for the procedure. Alas, I will have to make do._ With a snap the young huntress began to wake up, and the doctor put on his smile.

"Well this was a very successful session. To be honest Miss Xiao Long, in my medical opinion there isn't much more my talents can do." The doctor watched as Yang perked up.

"Does that mean I'm clear?" she asked hopefully.

The doctor shook head. "I'm afraid not. I said my semblance can't do much more to help you, but you still have a ways to go before you're fully healed."

Yang deflated in front of the doctor's eyes, clenching her fist. "Oh." frustration rolled off her in a muggy and oppressive cloud.

"I can feel your frustration Miss Xiao Long."

"Sorry doc."

"Don't be." The doctor wrote down the recursion phrase, ripped the page out of his notebook, and handed it to Yang. "This is a phrase to help calm you and stabilize your mental and emotional state. I would suggest using it at least twice a day, try it out for me will you?"

Yang took the paper from him and nodded. "Hush little dragon don't burn the forest down?" she turned her head to the doctor and took a deep calming breath, before frowning at him. "Really doc?"

He chuckled. "It felt appropriate, didn't it?"

Yang just huffed, and shook her head. "Are we done for the day doc?"

"No. I just have one final question. What are you waiting for?"

"What do you mean?"

The doctor sighed. "Your father told me that Ironwood's gift arrived a few days ago."

"Oh… That."

"So, why haven't you gone to get it fitted yet?"

The doctor felt a ripple of complex emotions from the young dragon.

"I'm lost doc."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Lost?"

Yang shook her head. "No, that's the wrong word. I'm uncertain."

He nodded. "Is this about your sister?"

Yang shifted in her seat. "Yes and no."

"Your partner?"

The doctor felt a brief flare of anger before she shook her head.

"No, it's about Jaune and Ruby traveling together."

The doctor nodded in understanding. "You don't trust Mr. Arc with the safety of your sister."

Yang nodded. "How can I trust him after Beacon? He knew something was going on and he said nothing."

"And this doesn't make you want to find your sister sooner?"

Yang shook her head. "It does, but I'm afraid she might not believe me. I'm afraid he'll convince me to trust him again."

 _And now to give the seeds of doubt their first taste of water._ "Wait here a moment." The doctor got up and walked into his office, making a show of shuffling through the files on his desk, before producing Jaune's files. _Thank you doctor Watts._ He walked back into his treatment room and placed two folders in front of Yang. "Perhaps these will help clear things up for you. I'm not supposed to show you these but..well in my medical opinion this may help you overcome your final road block."

line break

Yang hesitantly reached for the file labeled Jaune Arc. She flipped it open to find a picture of a young boy around eight years old. Yang skimmed the information about his childhood, flipping over to the next page to find a report on a Grimm attack that had Jaune and his whole family listed among the dead. _So the stories about his family were all lies._ Yang flipped the next page to find a similar file to the first one, a picture of an older Jaune attached to the top. The file detailed his time at Beacon and nothing else. Yang blinked at the sparsity of the file.

"You'll find the other file has a great deal more information."

Yang picked up the file labeled John Crescent.

"I must warn you, some the reports in that file are...graphic."

Yang nodded and began reading the first report

 _ **File C-001-A1: Shiowan Village**_

 _ **An individual, identified only by the alias John Crescent, assassinated Councilwoman Indiko in a public cafe in the small remote village of Shiowan where she was visiting family. After the assassination he began firing at civilians, causing mass panic to mask his escape. Local militia forces attempted pursuit but ran headlong into the approaching Grimm hoard, halving their numbers and leaving the village with minimal defenses.**_

 _ **Total population: 92**_

 _ **Total Casualties: 65**_

 _ **Civilians: 24**_

 _ **Militia: 41**_

 _He just left them to be slaughtered._ Yang hesitated but turned the next page.

* * *

Ren sighed to himself as he found his leader passed out with his face in a journal. He gently shook Jaune's shoulder. "Jaune, breakfast is ready."

"Five more minutes Ren." Jaune groaned.

Ren shook his head. "Come on Jaune get up or I'll be forced to send in Nora."

Jaune groaned again. "Alright, alright, I'm up."

"Come on, we still have a ferry to catch."

"I know. Just give me a few minutes would you?"

 _ **File C-002-A2: Ward 23 Incident**_

 _ **Black Source Z-112-A5 Designation Ash has confirmed Councilman Orouk's assassination was carried out by a mercenary known as John Crescent. How Crescent got through the city of Atlas' defenses, or up to the city proper is still unknown.**_

 _ **Weapon confirmed: Atlisian Lance. Ballistics has confirmed that the shot went through two buildings before entering the hardened room, corroborating Black Source Ash's report.**_

Jaune closed the door to his childhood home and stood there holding the doorknob. Ren walked up and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "There is going to be another ferry arriving three days after we get to Misho. We can always stay here a little longer and catch that one."

Jaune shook his head. "No, we need to get to Mistral and prepare." He let go of the door and stepped past Ren. Ren watched Jaune pick up his bags and walk over to the girls. Ren shook his head and went to catch up.

* * *

Yang closed the file, she had barely gotten a quarter of the way through and she had to stop, her image of the blond goofball ruined. _If even half of that…_ Yang shook her head. _Focus_

"Miss Xiao Long, we're almost out of time."

Yang blinked and looked at the clock, realizing the doctor was right. She needed to get home soon. She glanced down at the file in her hands. "doc...can I bring this home with me to finish?"

The doctor regarded her quietly for a moment before nodding. "Of course. I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't want you to read it and understand what kind of man your friend is."

Yang nodded. "Thanks doc." She stood up to leave, waving behind her to the doctor. _I need to get to Mistral fast, but first I need to be ready to fight Jaune if I have to._

* * *

"I'm sorry sir, the ferry was delayed by Grimm attacks. They should arrive tomorrow morning and hopefully we can get back on the way by nightfall tomorrow night."

Jaune sighed dramatically, before Ruby elbowed him.

"Sorry about him." Ruby apologized. "We're Huntsman, we'd be happy to offer extra protection on the way to Mistral."

The man's eyes widened. "I'll be sure to tell the captain; he can arrange payment for your efforts."

Jaune saw an opportunity and cut in. "Tell him he doesn't have to pay us anything, all we want is passage to Mistral. We're willing to pay for food if that's an issue."

The man in the booth smiled. "I'm sure the captain will be happy to accommodate you food-wise. As for passage, I can authorize your help as a form of payment."

Jaune smiled and nodded his thanks. "We appreciate it." Jaune turned to his team and made a shooing motion. "Come on we need to find a place to stay, and maybe there's some work to be found here to keep us busy."

 ** _File C-013: Camp Araminic incident_**

 ** _John Crescent, now designated Target Alpha (TA), was spotted aiding in a mass kidnapping staged by the White Fang to abduct Schnee Dust employees from their working environment. TA aided the White Fang assault team in the slaughter of two squads of Atlisian soldiers. Helmet footage confirms TA and an unknown White Fang specialist were responsible for the deaths of two specialists posted at the base._**

Ren nodded. "And perhaps we can drill with our new weapons while waiting."

Jaune nodded. "That's a good idea Ren, but first I need to drill Rubes on basic hand to hand."

Ruby turned on him. "But I don't need hand to hand, I have Crescent Rose and now I have the sword you gave me for emergencies."

"Yes, but what happens if you lose your sword too?"

Ruby opened her mouth to argue, but ended up pouting instead. Jaune laughed and ruffled her hair. "Cheer up Rubes, you get to punch me in the face."

"Really?!"

"Well don't sound too excited about it."

* * *

Cinder stared in wonder at her new arm. Mesmerized, she tried to speak to Salem, to thank her, but only strangled croaks came out.

"Shhh, my child." Salem rested her hand on Cinder's face. "You need to rest now."

Cinder felt something on the edge of her mind stir as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Salem watched Cinder sleep peacefully. _Unfortunately, it won't last._ As if on cue, Cinder's eyes started moving rapidly under her eyelids and her scarred face contorted in discomfort. _An unfortunate side effect, but one she will ultimately survive._

As she watched Cinder struggle through her nightmare, Salem thought back to watching Jaune go through the same thing what felt like a lifetime ago. _He was strong even then. The first mortal to survive my experiments intact both physically and mentally._ Cinder tossed and turned, face contorted in pain, but Salem could only see a young boy, blue eyes filled with rage and pain, strapped to a table. Cinder let out a content sigh, startling Salem.

Salem looked down to her hand that glowed with a soothing blue light. Salem cut the flow of magic immediately. She looked down at her hand that had eased Cinder's suffering unconsciously. _I cannot help her...she must go through this alone._ Salem closed her eyes and couldn't help remember the look of pain and terror on Jaune's face all those years ago. As Salem turned to leave, she heard Cinder whimper in pain. Salem closed her eyes as her hand rested on the door. "Be strong my little ashen queen." she whispered gently, opening the door and leaving the room.

Two Beowolves stood guard at the end of the hall. With a wave of her hand, the creatures moved to stand in front of Cinder's door, and Salem turned to address them. "Let only myself and Cinder's children pass." The Grimm growled in acknowledgment and Salem was satisfied that her other council members wouldn't try anything now for fear of her wrath. Salem turned to make her way to the spawning pools.

* * *

Cinder shifted in bed, flashes of Jaune tore through her mind. His smile, his arms wrapped around her, his tender kiss, the burning hatred in his eyes on top of Beacon tower. Cinder saw him walking towards her through a haze of pain, sword drawn. "Jaune no….wait!" Heedless of her cries, Jaune raised his sword and brought it down towards her neck.

Cinder woke with a start, unable to scream through her damaged throat, her left arm raised to protect her. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes she saw again the gift Salem had given her, a new arm resembling that of a Geist. _Salem promised it would help with my destiny. Help me acquire the strength necessary for her plans._ Cinder tried to close the clawed fingers of her new hand. The tips curved inward slightly but refused to close into a fist. Cinder relaxed her hand and tried harder, forcing her fingers to curl. Slowly but surely, Cinder was able to force her new hand to make a fist. _I will control this gift._ Cinder opened her Grimm hand back up and summoned a fire ball in her black palm

* * *

Salem knelt at the edge of the pool and reached her hand out, dipping her fingers in the pool and closing her eyes. She could feel Grimm, all of them were connected to the pools that gave them life. Salem could feel Cinder's arm in the castle behind her. She could feel the Grimm patrolling the grounds. Continents away, on the edges of her mind, Salem could feel the Grimm of the world. She tried to focus on her son, whispering into the pool. "Jaune.."

* * *

Jaune was enjoying the nice view of the open water, taking the time to meditate, when he felt something on the edge of his mind. Something that made his blood hum.

 _ **"Jaune.."**_

Jaune's breath stopped and his heart started beating faster.

 _ **"Jaune...I know you can hear me, even if just barely."**_

Jaune shook his head. "Get out of my head."

 _ **"Focus Jaune...embrace the itch on the edge of your mind."**_

Jaune bit his lip. _It could be a trap...but she is already in my head._ Jaune closed his eyes and focused on the itch in the back of mind. _**"What do you want?**_

 _ **[{"Good...show me where you are my son and we can talk."}]**_

Jaune growled animalistically. ** _"I'm not your son. You had my family killed and you stole me to use as a pawn in your war. I don't have anything to say to you."_**

 ** _"You are so much more than that. Come home Jaune and I can show you, push you further into greatness. You've already come so close on your own."_**

 ** _"Go to hell. Oh wait, you live there."_**

 ** _"We don't have to be enemies, come home and help me fix this broken world."_**

Jaune snorted. _ **"Says the Witch Queen of the Grimm. You don't care about this world or anyone in it."**_

After a long pause Salem spoke again. _**"I am not the villain you make me out to be."**_

Jaune shook his head. _**"Are you done yet? I'm getting tired of this."**_ There was another long pause before Salem answered.

* * *

Salem's hand curled into a fist inside the pool. _ **"I will give you one warning my son, because I care about you. I know you are traveling to Mistral with your friends. If you continue leading those poor trusting children on your crusade across the continent and into the arms of Ozpin, I will be forced to not only snuff them out, but the rest of your newfound friends as well. The bandit's daughter recovering on Patch, the turncoat running home, and even the heiress locked in her white tower, none of your friends are outside my reach."**_

Silence reined for a long moment before her son spoke. Salem could feel the hatred in an indescribable way through the Grimm connection. **_"Understood, tell the bug you sent after my family that I'll be ready this time, and I think you'll find my allies more resilient than you know."_**

Salem severed the connection. She pulled her hand out and let the ichor roll off her had hand, leaving it dry. Salem brought the same hand up to wipe away a small tear. _Well his reaction is to be expected I suppose._

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath after he felt the connection end. He got up and began walking back to his room, no longer in the mood for meditation. _Damn it. I had hoped to be ignored a little while longer. Can't be helped at this point, but it looks like I might not be able to wait till we reach Mistral to fill in Ruby and Nora._ Jaune sighed to himself as he slammed his cabin door in frustration. Jaune heard a soft knock and Ruby's voice call out.

"Jaune, you okay?"

Jaune walked over and opened his door, inviting Ruby in. "I'm fine. Just worried about Mistral."

"You're worried about us running into Cinder."

Jaune nodded. "None of you are ready to fight her."

Ruby opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off. "I'm not trying to put you down, I'm just telling you the truth. Sure you could take on Emerald or Mercury one on one or two on two in most combinations, but Cinder is considerably more dangerous."

"Because she was able to kill professor Ozpin and Pyrrha?"

Jaune nodded. "Yes, but it's not just because of her strength. Cinder isn't an enemy that can be spared. If you don't kill her than she will hunt you down. Especially after what you did to her on top of the tower."

Ruby's face scrunched in confusion. "What did I do to her? I still don't know what happened on top of Beacon tower."

"That's probably a conversation you should have with Qrow."

"But Uncle Qrow is back in Vale… He's the one who sent me the lead, isn't he?"

Jaune chuckled. "I knew you were going to catch on eventually."

"Did he tell you to come?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, it was the opposite actually. He convinced me to send you the tip. I have the rest in my pack. Qrow and I were going to go over it with you guys in Mistral."

Ruby looked hurt. "Why wait Jaune? Why keep secrets, after Beacon after…after the tower." Ruby took a deep breath before continuing. "Why did you keep us all in the dark?"

Jaune knew what Ruby meant, even if she wouldn't say it. Why did he let Pyrrha die? "I couldn't have told any of you the truth, not without endangering myself. A vague answer wouldn't satisfy, and with Weiss's resources and Yang's knowledge of the underground, they would have put the dots together Weiss would have told Winter or Ironwood and I would have been screwed and without a chance to explain myself."

"You don't know that Jaune. We're your friends, you could have trusted us."

Jaune sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Rubes it's...it's not that simple."

Ruby's eyes blazed. "Yes it is. It doesn't matter what you did when you worked for Cinder, you're trying to stop her now and that is what counts. You should have told us about her. We could have helped you fight her."

Jaune shook his head. "None of you are strong enough to face her, not even Pyrrha was good enough. Besides, none of you would have had the stomach to kill her."

Ruby glanced down. "But you could have helped us get stronger."

"You have to understand Rubes, I thought I would have at least another year to prepare, another year for you to grow and get stronger before I told you all."

"Then help me get stronger now."

"I will, but first we have to focus on making it to Mistral." Ruby gave a frustrated grunt but didn't argue, making Jaune sigh. "Look, there's a lot you need to know before I push you that hard."

"Fine. I'll be here when you're ready to talk, waiting for you to trust me." Ruby got up and walked to Jaune's door, opening it.

"Ruby..."

She turned to him from the other side of the doorway, hand still on the knob. "Goodnight Jaune."

With that she closed the door behind her, leaving Jaune alone on in his sour mood. _Great, as if I needed one more thing to go wrong on this trip._

* * *

 **Sorry it's been so long between chapters guys, this past semester I worked two jobs on top of my class schedule, which made it hard to find time and energy to write. Life got away from me, there was a lot happening at work and recently I've had some medical issues that have put a lot of things in my life off track. Obviously some of the information learned in V6, is going to change a few details down the road. The only real difference is I will be using Ozma and Salem's canon origin story in place of my planned origin story based on the now defunct Frankenstein theory.**

The Cardinal Rule Chapter 1: We're off (to) save the wizard Part 3

Jaune relaxed as the last droid toppled over, split from shoulder to hip. A quick glance showed all the Atlas personnel were unconscious or incapacitated by non lethal wounds. Jaune sighed in relief. _Looks like I don't have to fight Winter after all._

"John Crescent, you are under arrest. Surrender immediately and no harm shall come to you."

 _Fuck me._ Jaune turned around and gave a slight bow. "Specialist Schnee, it is a pleasure to see you again. I was afraid I wouldn't get to say hi before I left."

Winter narrowed her eyes at him. "And where do you think you're going?"

Jaune smiled under his mask. "Oh don't worry Miss Schnee, I have some time left to spend with you." He dashed at her before she could respond, locking blades with Winter.

As she began to strike back, Jaune keyed his emergency mic, muting his outside speakers.

" _Qrow, I've engaged Winter. I'm going to need an evac ASAP._ " Jaune caught Winter's blade and slammed a concussion punch into her abdomen, launching her back.

" _Sorry kid, you're gonna have to wait. The eggheads apparently don't trust the grunts or the robots. Gonna take me a bit to get around this shit._ "

Jaune slashed Colère through the air in front of him, rapidly switching dust between slashes, sending arcs of fire, lighting, and a chunk of the concrete ground at Winter. " _Qrow, if I die here, I will haunt your ass, and you'll have to explain to Ruby that her first friend died on a mission to save her Headmaster, who decided to sleep with the Queen of the Grimm and blackmail us into rescuing him!_ "

Jaune spun out of the way of Winter's sword and brought his sword down on Winter's back. Or he tried to, a glyph blocked his slash. Jaune was forced to go on the defensive after losing his traction.

" _How long did you say you could hold Ice Queen off?_ "

Jaune's eye twitched. " _On a good day this wouldn't be a problem, but I'm a little out of practice so I'd say 30 minutes. So hurry up!_ " Jaune keyed his helmet sound filter, and slammed both fists into the ground with concussion blasts to push Winter back. "I must say Miss Schnee, I haven't had a good fight in ages." Jaune bowed to Winter. "Thank you for the light exercise."

Winter's eye twitched. _I'm gonna die on this stupid floating rich snob haven._ With a yell, Winter launched herself at him. _I'm going to kill Ozpin._ Jaune blocked her stab with the flat of his blade and rotated Colère to lightning, quickly electrifying the blade and pushing Winter back, following with an upwards slash.

Winter leaned back and Jaune capitalized on the moment to slam a concussion punch into her stomach and send the specialist tumbling across the battlefield until she slammed into the carcass of a paladin. She got up slowly and held out her hand, a glyph forming on the ground.

 _That can't be good for my health._ Jaune pulled a grenade off his belt, concealing it in his hand as he charged. Winter attempted to block his path with glyphs. Jaune used his sonic blasts to launch himself in the air and steer around her glyphs until he saw an opening. He threw his grenade, only to immediately get caught by a giant white hand. "Oh shit." Jaune was promptly slammed hard into the ground by the giant white Beringel that had caught him. P _robably should have been paying attention to that._

"John Crescent! For crimes against the people of Remnant, and for attacking an Atlas military base, I'm placing you under arrest."

Jaune craned his neck to see if Winter was in the right spot. He could see her glaring at him but he couldn't tell where his grenade had landed. _Eh, fuck it. Can't make it any worse._ "On the contrary Miss Schnee, I'm afraid I don't have any time left for our fun. I have a schedule to keep after all, though I must say the giant ape is a nice touch."

Winter's eyes narrowed. "What are you.."

Her eyes snapped down as Jaune pressed the detonator and the stun grenade attached to her boot activated before she could raise her aura. Winter screamed in pain and collapsed, her giant Grimm fading with her consciousness.

Jaune let out a sigh of relief before dragging himself up to make sure Winter was okay.

" _Now that you're done goofing off with the Ice Queen, let's get out of here kid._ "

Jaune's eyes narrowed and he keyed is his mic. "Qrow… how long have you been ready for?"

" _Since a few minutes before the giant monkey showed up._ "

Jaune's eye twitched. "I hate you."


End file.
